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!

First Finish of 2013...Kind of!

Feels so good to have put the last stitch into Ivy by Nora Corbett this evening! She is done and ready to be washed for beading.

Bluebell is near completion as well, she finally has another leg! I think all that is left to do on her is back stitching and I am hoping to get that done tomorrow so I can wash them at the same time. While they dry Mermaids of the Deep Blue will be pulled out and the beading will be worked on some more!

Before picking up Ivy my Winter Maiden by Joan Elliott got a page done! Just the snow at the bottom of her feet needs to be done. I keep putting her off knowing I have to do her hands 1 over 1 as well. I love the effect, it is just so time consuming! 

Victorian Christmas Lady Framed

Yay! Another one framed. I haven't been in much of a stitching mood recently but after I got this framed the other week I seem to be eager to work on more stitching, even though I don't have much time nor the energy.

 

I promise in the new year I will be posting more. Recently I have taken up dyeing fabrics and I am waiting on some new dyes from Santa. In the new year I will share with you all the fabrics I have dyed. It really is addicting to do! 

Merry Christmas everyone!! 

Small Finish!

I finished this piece a while back and forgot all about her. I ended up using all of the colors from my Victorian Christmas Lady so the colors vary a little bit from the original pattern. She ended up poking out from the magazine I used to stitch her and completely forgot I had finished her! So I took it upon myself to hunt down the holly berry fabric I knew I had and made her into an ornament I can hang in the house for Christmas.

She is designed by Joan Elliott, there is also a Silent Night one but I don't think I will be stitching it this year. They were both with a bigger pattern of caroling children which I might stitch next Christmas. I plan on finishing off a few more small stitchings like this I have laying around. It is about time I had some handmade decorations, feels more homey :)

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!

I Think I Can!

After telling myself multiple times that my Victorian Christmas Lady would be for me and my own enjoyment I have crumbled and decided nope, my nan would love it. As my mom said "you should just give in and surprise her by giving it to her" She is constantly asking if I have finished it yet and bringing up how she wants to open the green present. Not only is it her colors but she loves ladies and trees. I enjoy seeing her face when I surprise her, she is so cute and shocked that I managed to just finish a project!

So with that being said....I have started a new project in hopes that I finish it in the next 2 or so weeks so I will have my own Christmas cross stitch to hang up in the dinning room! I am working on Joan Elliott's 2012 Christmas Angel

It is not overly Christmas either so I can hang her up for the winter season if I want to. I am not too sure about the wings and might end up leaving them off having her as a Winter Maiden instead. I am also planning on doing her skin over one!

Here is my progress so far:

This is after just one day of stitching. She is on white 32 count linen and uses some of my favorite shades of teal. It is far from my nan's colors so I know this one is for keeps for sure!

Victorian Christmas Lady Finished!

I have managed to finish yet another project this year! And finally this one is all for ME!

Joan Elliott's Victorian Christmas Lady

It took a while to get all of the supplies to finish her. When I ordered all of the beads I forgot to order one of the Krieniks that was just used for the outlines of the fur part of the dress. Then once I got the order I ended up having to go away for a week. During that week away though I managed to get two Christmas Ornaments stitched up, but I can't show them just yet since one is for a Christmas Ornament exchange I am participating in and the other is a gift.

I am going to get her framed in a few weeks so she will be ready for Christmas. I already have an idea of where she is going to hang! Now I just need to figure out how to have her framed. I am thinking of a double matte. Have the bottom matter in either a red or green and then the top matte can be a cream or beige. I want something neutral because all of the colors are so bright.

Has anyone else started their Christmas stitching yet? I would love to see some of your work!

Page 2 Completed!

Sorry been away for a little while, the heat sure has gotten to me and in turn made me super lazy and not wanting to move much hehe. However I managed to finish page 2 of my Victorian Christmas Lady. That makes 12 working days invested into working on her.

Victorian Christmas Lady

She is so beautiful and I can't wait to finish her! I compared her to my Christmas Angel (also by Joan Elliott) and the two of them really compliment each other. I am not sure the last time I updated on my Christmas Angel though so here she is:

Christmas Angel by Joan Elliott

The lighting of the two pieces isn't the greatest but in person the vibrant colors look amazing together. They are about the same size too so they can be framed similar if I want to do that.

Quick Update on Victorian Christmas Lady

I have invested a total of 9 days so far on working on her, not full days either so I can only imagine how far I would be if that were the case! I finished up her hair and did some back stitching tonight so her face didn't look as scary. The only areas left to do on this page is the tree and the boarder, which I am still unsure of if I want to keep it or not, so that will be a final decision once the other pages are done. Here she is so far on 32 count white linen:

Joan Elliott's "Victorian Christmas Lady" Update as of July 27, 2012

I placed an order today for the beads and missing Kreinik and hopefully should get that all within the next week or two. I also had some other patterns magically end up in my shopping cart as I was checking out! Oops ;) ...Those patterns are Mirabillia's Lily of the Woods and The Petal Fairy, and a John Clayton cross stitch kit "Charlotte", which will be for my nan if I ever find time to stitch it! I also have a couple patterns I am going to order from Joan Elliott for my mom and I....Oh dear!

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!