Sinister Craftiness

Halfway through the year, and halfway through the Crazy January Challenge:  the Victorian Rose Sampler by Victoria Sampler is finished!  This pretty design can be finished either as a bellpull or a small framed sampler, plus an additional sugarplum ornament which I’d like to stitch in time for Christmas.  The finish was fun and relatively quick, so now I’m motivated to dig more VS bellpulls out of my stash.

Button Up Birdies 1, 2, 3
Victoria Sampler Designs by Cathy Jean
Natural linen (30 count)
Stitched with GAST and WDW

Right after the sampler guild class I came down with a bad case of the flu which sent me to bed for quite a while.  I’m wobbling around now, still dealing with a nasty cough, but at least I’m getting my energy back.  I’ve been easing back into things by finishing up the first three sets of Button-Up Birdies, designed by Cathy Jean for Victoria Sampler.

Set 1:  November chickadee and December cardinal

Set 2:  January tree sparrow and February whiskey Jack

Set 3:  March house finch and April robin

Thing Two is thrilled to have these finished, and he’d really like me to begin working on set 4 (bluebird and goldfinch), which arrived in the mail this week.  However, I’m hoping to escape from the birdie sweatshop for a while to finish up my class piece and Hardanger exchange, and catch up on several other neglected projects.  Although some fruit juice and a nap is sounding pretty good right now, too …

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Thing Two really likes the Button-up Birdies series by Victoria Sampler.  To date I’ve stitched some of the birds, but was waiting until I had a few more done, then planned on finishing several all together.  Thing Two is mostly agreeable to this plan.  The other day he presented me with these:

In case it’s not readily apparent, these are two of his own bird buttoned ornament designs:  a puffin and a dark-eyed junco.  As with the other charts, the finished design decorates the cover …

… followed by the actual chart, complete with symbols for the different colors …

… and a key on the back.

Translation:  the puffin is stitched with Onyx, Burnt Orange, and Yellow Jacket, with a bead for the eye, and the junco is stitched with Pelican Gray and Sweet Petunia.  Thing Two is partial to Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Weeks Dye Works, and Crescent Colours because of their interesting color names, but he also likes DMC because we wind those on bobbins, which he thinks is fun to do.  He consulted my GAST stash to determine the best color for the junco’s beak.

Thing Two is almost as much of a projectaholic as his mother, so after finishing up these bird charts, he moved on to draw a picture of the solar system.

Christmas Robin, Victoria Sampler Designs by Cathy Jean
Just Cross Stitch 2010 Christmas Ornament issue
Natural linen (30 count)
Stitched with GAST and WDW

Between the Crazy January Challenge, other WIPs, and other projects I’m hoping to tackle, I wasn’t planning on making time to stitch ornaments this year.  However, my little stash enabler (Thing Two, age five) can be very persuasive.  He’s been an avid birdwatcher for a few years now, and can identify many of our native birds.  He also loves to decorate the tree at Christmas time.   (Guess where this is heading.)  Unfortunately, the little guy has been sick all week with a bad cold, so I thought making one of the “Button-Up Birdies” from Victoria Sampler would cheer him up.

Here’s Thing Two showing off his new Christmas ornament.  Yes, he’s wearing two hoodies.

This Christmas Robin isn’t part of the series; the chart was published separately in last year’s JCS ornament issue, but I’m adding it to the button-up flock.  Now Thing Two is eager to see the rest of the birds stitched up, and is looking forward to the next birds in the series.  They stitch up quickly, so I think this charming series is a doable addition to this year’s projects.

Thing Two quickly identified all the birds in the first three charts (and the sneak peek at chart #4 featured in the Victoria Sampler newsletter) save one:  February’s Whiskey Jack.  Victoria Sampler is a local designer, so we guessed that this must be some sort of native bird to our region, but we couldn’t find it in our field guide.  A little further research revealed that Whiskey Jack is another name for the Gray Jay, a bird we’ve seen in the mountains.

And now Thing Two has stopped by the computer to ask “Why haven’t you started stitching the cardinal yet?” so that’s my cue to get going.

The project with which I began the Crazy January Challenge is finished!  This is Rose Garden by Blackbird Designs.  The pincushion is backed with Blackbird Designs fabric by Moda; I think it’s from At Water’s Edge.  The fabric is a great match for the embroidery.

I must have roses on the brain this week; I also worked on project #14, the Victorian Rose Sampler bellpull by Victoria Sampler.

All that remains is the Hardanger section at the bottom.

Have a great rest of the week!

A Fair Maiden’s Etui by With My Needle
Cream linen (36 count)
Stitched with Crescent Colours, DMC, GAST

Last day of the challenge!  I saved one of the favorites in my stash for the final start:  I’ve been meaning to get around to this etui for a while now and am glad to finally begin working on it.

The Victorian Rose Sampler is coming along nicely.  I really enjoy working all the different specialty stitches.

One last daily progress report and thoughts about the challenge tomorrow …

Victorian Rose Sampler by Victoria Sampler
Taupe Cashel linen (28 count)
Stitched with AVAS, Silk Mori, Waterlilies

A beautiful little bellpull and sugarplum ornament by another of my favorite designers, Victoria Sampler.

Yesterday was more productive than expected:  I finished the pinkeep!

The choice of thread is left up to the stitcher; I used Threadgatherer Silk ‘N Colors “In The Burgundy”.  Although a pouch for the pinkeep is pictured on the kit and instructions for making the pouch are included, the materials to make it are not.  It would have been nice if the pouch linen and button had been part of the kit but I may get around to making the pouch later.

May Birthday Needle Roll by Victoria Sampler
Confederate Grey Cashel linen (28 ct)
Stitched with DMC and Kreinik metallic braids

This is not the first time I’ve tried to stitch this needle roll:  when I was starting to get back into cross stitch, this kit was my first attempt at stitching on non-Aida fabric.  It was a failure!  Very early in the stitching I miscounted, but instead of unpicking my mistake and starting over, I thought I could adjust the size of the following stitches to compensate, and it would all work out … but of course, it didn’t.

As the design drifted further out of alignment, each “correction” getting worse and worse, I had to admit defeat and set the mess aside.  Since then I learned that successful stitching doesn’t necessarily mean never making mistakes; successful stitchers recognize their mistakes, take the time to correct them, and move on.

I still wanted to stitch this pretty needle roll, so I bought another kit.  I’ve stitched more complicated pieces since then, but because of that first disaster, this needle roll will always be a reminder of how much I’ve been able to progress as a stitcher.

One last look (I promise, this is the last time!) at the anniversary sampler, just back from the framer:

Heirloom Wedding Sampler
by Victoria Sampler
Platinum Cashel linen (28 ct)
Stitched with:
DMC perle cotton
Trebizond
Soie d’Alger
Silk Mori
silk ribbon
Kreinik #4 braid

Hooray, it’s done!  Now it needs to be framed.  I love Victoria Sampler band samplers; between learning new stitches and the overall sampler design, they keep me interested all the way through and the end result is always so pretty, making all the hard work worthwhile.  This design reminds me of an antique wedding gown, all lace and pearls.  Click on the picture on the left to see the larger (1 MB) version.

I think my next Victoria Sampler project will be the Heirloom Nativity and maybe its companion piece, the Carol Singers … but I’m not starting those any time soon.

I have, however, started the Châtelaine Designs Peacock Garden Mandala — better late than never!  Part One is almost complete; I’ll post photos when it’s done.  So far, the colors are gorgeous, rich greens and blues.  A big change from working with all white.  And I’m working on the JOB box lid and base.  But for now, here’s a last look at the Hardanger section of the sampler.

It’s been really frustrating not having a camera.  I hadn’t realized how often I use one, and how much I rely on photos to keep my blogging juices flowing.   Thing One leaves on a spring break school trip later this week, so we bought him a small, inexpensive digital camera, and I’m borrowing it for a quick set of pictures before he and the camera depart for their great adventure.  I’ve been researching cameras and am seriously considering one of the Canon superzoom models.  My stolen camera was a subcompact Canon and I was mostly happy with how it operated and the results I could get out of it, but I’d like to try out the superzoom features.  Any thoughts or recommendations to share?

On to the stitching!  After the burglary, I needed something to do very badly to take my mind off it — at least to keep from a bad fright every time there was an odd noise around the house.  The Heirloom Wedding Sampler’s soothing white-on-white design, with plenty of specialty stitches on which to concentrate, has been perfect.  Here’s a look at the sampler so far.

I began at the middle of the sampler and worked my way down to the Hardanger section, then up to the trellis heart with bullion roses.  In the customized area, where the couple’s names and wedding date are supposed to be stitched, I had one of my brilliant bad ideas:  how about adding a fancy French initial?  Stitched over one, yet?  I don’t like to do much stitching over one; it leaves me cross-eyed.  Why do I do this to myself?

It was supposed to be a white initial, but the one strand of AVAS didn’t show up at all, so I was stuck with an invisible letter, and a potentially ruined sampler.  However, I had plenty of AVAS left over from Noella, and the baby blue silk was a great fit with the taupe frame and accents.  Nice save, if I do say so myself.

The sampler is stitched on Platinum Belfast linen, using perle cotton in various sizes (mostly #12), AVAS and Trebizond silk, #4 Kreinik braid, and those little pearl beads dotting the bands.  After completing the bands on the sampler, I took a break to work on the scissor case for the Japanese Octagon Box, but I’ll be back soon to assemble the heart (these will be my first bullion roses; wish me luck) and get started on the Hardanger.