Blossoming Spring Cross Stitch Finish

Hey all, I hope everyone is making it through January alright. As many of you know, Blogger has undergone a number of changes recently and I have found a lot of them have made the blogging experience extremely frustrating. As a result of this I will be moving my blog to a paid hosting service over the next few months. Not to worry though, I will give plenty of notice of everything that is happening and I hope you will all continue to follow along with me in my new blogging home.

Anyway back to crafting, I'm delighted to report, I have my first cross stitch finish of 2017! I took out Blossoming Spring the other day and was shocked at how little was left to be done. I thought that there was a fair amount of stitching left on this piece. However only the top cluster of blossoms needed finishing. The last progress report on this project can be found here for those interested. 

Blossoming Spring - Japanese Crab Apple - Sheila Hudson

This piece was stitched on 28ct hand-dyed evenweave from Sparklies, using DMC threads 2 over 2. Usually when I stitch on hand-dyed fabric I keep the bag so that I know the name of the colourway for it, however I can't seem to find the one for this fabric and I can't remember what this is called. It's a very subtle combination of pale blues and greys.

Chart from 'The Ultimate Forest Friends Cross Stitch Collection'

I have really enjoyed this project, even though it has taken me over 2 years to stitch it. I actually feel pretty bad about how long this has been a WIP, because realistically I could have finished this project fairly quickly if I didn't keep jumping from piece to piece. However that's one of the things I love about being creative, matching a project to my mood.

Can't believe this took over 2 years *hangs head in shame*

I'm delighted to have been able to cross this project off my to-do list and I adore how it looks. It will now go with my other finishes waiting to be properly completed. I think this one will be going into a frame, if I can find one that suits. I have also been working on some more pairs of hand knit socks, see my first ones here, so they will be showing up soon. I think I may be addicted to knitting socks, have added so many patterns to my Pinterest, opps.

Well that's everything, don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest for other stuff from me, links on the top right of the page.

Blossoming Spring Continues to Grow - Cross Stitch Progress

Hey everyone, hope your week is going well so far. Last weekend I got in some down time, played Dark Souls 2 for a little while, once I got it to work on my laptop & connected it to the TV, no small feat I can tell you. I also spent some time stitching away on Blossoming Spring, Elegance of the Orient unfortunately was left neglected.

Blossoming Spring - Japanese Crab Apple - Sheila Hudson

The top right cluster of blossoms was the one I had to rip out last time as it was in the wrong position, so I was delighted to get that re-stitched correctly and moved on to the other two sections of blossoms to the right. There is now one more row of flowers at the top to do, as well as some sections down the right side of the tree. You can find my previous progress post here, if you want to see the difference.

Blossoming Spring - Close Up

This has now out grown the hoop I was using and the fabric is too small a piece for any of my other frames to use comfortably. Therefore I will be finishing the rest of the stitching in hand. This isn't ideal as the fabric is hand dyed and can't be cleaned, as the dye isn't colour fast. I will have to be very careful not to get this dirty, she says as she remembers she left it sitting out on the bedside last night and it's still there uncovered!

Some of my readers will know that I am not a fan of putting frame clamps or hoops over stitching as I find it can mark or distort the stitches. Other than using a piece of felt under the Q-snaps clamps I have never found a solution for this problem, other than working as much of a chart as I can in hoop then finish off what's left in hand. Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me? I would love to know, so leave a comment below!

That's all for now guys, talk to you all soon.

Blossoming Spring Is Not a Cherry Blossom - Opps

Hey everyone, hope you are all having a good, craft filled week so far. As the title suggests this is an update on Blossoming Spring. I was looking through the book/magazine that this chart is from the other night and noticed that this isn't actually a cherry blossom tree, it's a Japanese crab apple tree. This doesn't at all change how I feel about this project. Both cherry blossom and Japanese crab apples are stunning and this is a gorgeous chart.

Blossoming Spring - Japanese Crab Apple - Sheila Hudson

I managed some progress on the top right set of blossoms and frogged some of the grass that was incorrect, just to get it done. I actually stitched another section on this but had to frog it as it was in the wrong position. I am beginning to think that little frog has taken a permanent liking to me, either that or I need to pay more attention while stitching.

I am hoping to get the cluster I had to rip re-stitched today. Thankfully this is all full cross stitch, no partials or back stitching. I'm working on this in a hoop, which is a little small for the entire design, therefore I am leaving some of the stitching from the left hand side until the rest of the pattern is done. This is to avoid having the hoop over the existing stitches, I may even stitch those sections in hand when the time comes.

Elegance of the Orient has also grown a little, I will be posting on her later this week so keep an eye out for that. Until then, have a great week all.

Just Cross Stitch - Bird Seed Update

Hello lovely readers, I hope you are all well. I have an update on Bird Seed from Just Cross Stitch today. I only managed a few hours on this since the last post, but it is growing nice and quickly so I am happy with my progress. I completed the sign, which will have the words 'Bird Seed' backstitched on it, the second plant and bird.

Bird Seed - Bent Creed - Just Cross Stitch Apr 2002

I did make a slight counting error when stitching the sign, however it doesn't effect any of the other features and still looks like it should, so I decided to leave it as it is rather than frog it. The top set of lines has more rows of stitches than it should, if you look really hard you will probably spot it.

Bird Seed - Detail Close Up

There isn't very much left on this, just the third bird, some of the ground and a slight border. Then just a small amount of backstitching and it will be added to the others awaiting finishing. I honestly thought that this project would take longer than it has. So far I have only spent a couple of days at it and only have a few hours left to finish it off. I had thought it would be about as complicated as my Blossoming Spring project, but thankfully is much simpler, so I don't feel as bad about starting it when I had others on the go.

If you haven't seen Blossoming Spring, check out the post of my progress here: YOTA Sept 2015 - My Cheat Post

Hopefully I will get a chance to stitch on Bird Seed and have a finish to show you all very soon. What is everyone else working on at the moment? Let me know in the comments below.