Emerald Mermaid is Complete!

I took over from my mom on this cross stitching of Emerald Mermaid by Mirabilia on February 19, 2012. I finished it at 4am on March 21, 2012. That was with a week and a half of not working on her because I wasn't feeling in the mood to put the beads on her. It took about three days to put the beads on but to be fair I was distracted by watching hockey games on the weekend (Go Canucks!!) She is done on 32 count linen and has almost a total of 3 packages of Mill Hill beads in her. Here is the finished photo:

She is so pretty! I can't stop looking at her. My nan is going to be super happy with it once we get it framed. My mom pointed out after I finished her that even though her and my Auntie both cross stitch as well that this is the most ornate stitching in the family! Sure is going to be an amazing heirloom to pass down to future generations.

After finishing this one though it has inspired me to pick up my Midsummer's Night Dream Fairy by Mirabilia to work on once again. I have found in the depths of our storage room that we actually do have a q-snap frame!! I currently have my Cinderella by Heaven and Earth Designs on it at this moment to finish a page but once that page is done I am going to do the fairy. Having the frame will make it easier to work with the huge fabric piece and is more handy than a hoop. I used a hoop with the mermaid because it made counting the linen so much easier. I couldn't use it though when attaching the beads so I wish I had found the frame sooner!

Here are some bonus photos to show all the details of it!

Beads on Cross Stitching

I have spent a couple hours attaching beads to my Emerald Mermaid by Mirabilia. I am loving the look of all these beads on this beautiful mermaid! There sure is a lot more beads than I had originally thought! I am just happy I am used to holding a beading needle and stringing one bead on at a time for my bead weaving I do, tips and tricks I have learned by doing that are coming in handy in this project and threading a beading needle is second nature to me.

While looking for some new beading needles I came across this other project I had done a year ago. It involves beads as well:

It is Beaded Rose by Just Nan. Took me a total of two days to stitch it up and it challenged me with some special stitches and attaching beads.

For attaching beads I use two strands of a color that matches my fabric's color. I use the loop method so I reduce the bulk and I can start in strange places that aren't close to other stitches. I also do a full x in the beads so they are snug and secure on the fabric. For picking up the beads it helps if your fingers are a little moist then they will stick right to your finger and easier to put onto the needle.

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!

Converting a Picture into a Cross Stitching

The other week my friend messaged me on Facebook telling me she was having problems converting a photo into a cross stitching. She knew I was working on converting my paintings and designs into cross stitch patterns to sell so she asked me if I could convert the photo into a cross stitching for her mother.

The photo was of her mother's mom's dog who had just passed away. I grew up with this family friend and I knew this dog since she was a little puppy so I couldn't say no! Well it took me about 3 hours of tweaking and trying to lessen the amount of confetti stitches to get it to the point where I was happy with it and more importantly where my friend's mother was happy with the outcome. Here is the digital mock up of the pattern:

There are no fractional stitches in it and only a little back stitching for the mouth area to help her little mouth stand out a little more. There is a total of 27 colors in the pattern and it only measures approximately 8x9 inches if done on 14 count.

I can't wait to see the finished product stitched up and to hear the review from the long time family friend. She seemed extremely pleased with the finished pattern and happy that I included blown up areas for easy reading!

If anyone else is interested in getting a photo converted into a cross stitch pattern (copyright infringement free of course!) feel free to drop me a message and we can go from there. I do charge for my services but I will not stop making the pattern until my customers are 100% happy with the finished product.

I Have Been Super Busy...

Oh boy! I have been so busy with my new project while juggling my other projects at the same time! What's my new project? you may ask...I am currently getting together all of my cross stitch designs I have designed and want to offer them to the public for insanely low prices. Stay tuned for more on that!

I took a few days off of working on my new website to have some me time. I stumbled across a new cross stitch pattern that I had to start right away. Its a cross stitching of peony flowers! I started my project on January 30th and I can official say as of today February 3, 2012 I have managed to finish my first cross stitching of the year...and the decade...shhhh.

Here are a few of my work in progress photos and the last one is the final product:

Finished! 

Now I am planning on starting my first Heaven and Earth Design. My friend gave me this pattern a while ago and I completely forgot about it. She was going to do it but as time went on she lost interest in doing it sadly and gave it to me in hopes I would do it so she could see what it looked like all stitched up. Here it is:

The painting is originally done by Ruth Sanderson and converted into the counted cross stitch by Heaven and Earth Designs. I have always been a fan of her work since I received her book The Twelve Dancing Princesses when I was six years old. I still have that book and I plan on getting the new release of it coming out in March with a new cover. I think if this one turns out well I will do the Golden Wood by Ruth Sanderson as well since I have always been in love with that painting and think I will really enjoy doing it!

Cross Stitch Red Rose Small

With Valentines Day around the corner I decided I will share with my readers a free cross stitch pattern that I designed. It would look amazing as a Valentines Day card for a special someone or even as a small decoration for your room! Hope you all enjoy. I would love to see finished projects especially if you came up with a new idea for it. Here is what it should look like when finished:

Here is the pattern. Click on it to enlarge then right click and hit save:

Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

YAY! It is craft fair season and that means I get to set up a table with all of my jewellery out for display and for sale. I used to make simple colourful jewellery but after a few years I have realized that that's what EVERYONE does so I decided that this year I will be different. This year I will make jewellery that requires skill and patients. This year I will step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself to use the skills I knew but was afraid to produce for sale because so much time goes into them. This year I was going to try and sell my bead woven jewellery. Fingers crossed this helps me stand out from the rest of the jewellery for sale at these shows. Here are a few pictures of my newest stuff!: