burrito . ducks . elegant geisha . flowers and lace . good fortune . past, present, forever . surprise/mystery gift – batman! . teddy bear gathering
*linked webpage = completed project. no link = WIP
Yay! It’s finished and framed! I can’t get over how vibrant the color combinations are!
Yesterday, I washed the fabric and pressed it afterwards. I used a portable steamer as it was drying to smooth out the creases and wrinkles. I wasn’t able to get the creases from when I opened the package out completely, but they’re pretty faint and almost unnoticeable.
As mentioned in my last post, here is a close-up of some of the crazy details in the pattern. I love the green backstitches for the flower stems. The French knots and lazy daisies were fun to make once I got a hang of them though they hurt my fingers a bit. The white French knots are a lovely detail in my opinion.
I missed some backstitches for my last post and wondered why the upper part of the kimono looked a little bare. Turns out the gold metallic was for A LOT of details and I missed the vertical brown backstitch next to the blue French knots (as shown above).
When I began working with the gold metallic (Glisten Gloss?) thread, I was reminded of how much I hated working with it when first starting out with the Past, Present, Forever pattern. I would have to hold the threads taut in the back while pulling the needle through the front and vice versa to prevent the threads from twisting up and creating knots.
Here’s more of the lazy daisies for the leaves and the gold metallic thread.
The bullion knots were a nightmare! They consisted of two white threads and two gold metallic threads. I can’t count how many times the threads came out of the needle and how many times the threads got knotted. I think the finished knots look a little messy but I felt a huge wave of accomplishment after that part was complete :D.
No more backstitching, just some lazy daisies, French knots, and bullion knots left :D. Youtube videos were super helpful in learning those techniques. After I’m finished (hopefully by next week) I will post close-ups of the pattern to show how intricate the design is.
I actually had to go back and stitch parts I missed because it was so intricate. And..in one section of sakura, I messed up on the green stems by stitching them either one block down or up, I can’t really remember at the moment. The mistake doesn’t really interfere with how it’s supposed to look, so I didn’t bother to fix it. O:)
I started a new project today since my fingers were tired from the French knots and the lazy daisies, haha.
The past Saturday, I went back to Michaels (after I went on Friday) and bought some floss and two rolls of aida cloth. Aida cloth is so cheap! I foresee quite a few trips back to Michaels knowing this now. :X
I’m going to keep what I’m making a secret for now as it’s a gift and I’m hoping the person will not find out by stumbling upon my blog. I will post a picture of the finished product by the end of this year or about half a year from now depending on how soon I finish it. It involves a lot of black cross-stitches and I might lose my mind by the time I complete the project.
So, if I don’t happen to post as often, it’s because I’m working on this new project. 🙂
Pretty, pink sakura!
Frankly, I’m glad I’ve gotten past the half cross-stitches in the background. Stitching row upon row of those colors was getting tedious. I added in grid-lines too which made stitching a lot easier (not sure if it’s clear in the picture).
The finished parts are lacking in green, no? I can’t wait until I get to the leaves 🙂
Thanks for those whom have answered my last post. I loved reading your responses and what you thought!
More than half-way there by the looks of it!
I started the half cross-stitches sooner than I expected to. It’s a nice change and thankfully they’re going much more quickly than the full cross-stitches. I’m trying my hardest to not pull the strands for the half cross-stitches too taut to keep the holes in the cloth from expanding (Is there a dirty joke in there somewhere? hehe).
I goofed again in the beginning when starting the half cross-stitches by using two strands instead of one. I only noticed when I thought the tan in the background looked way too dark and..had to redo them :(.
There are unfinished bits for the geisha’s kimono because the colors I didn’t finish are also used for back stitches, french knots, etc.
For a design this small, I wasn’t expecting its complexity and the time needed to complete it. It’s certainly keeping me busy 🙂
Before this kit, I used to be super conservative with the floss when stitching. I would try to plan ahead and make paths to stitch parts as close together as I could to use as little floss as possible. I tried to save floss like this when I had a bit of a mishap of not separating the strands (most patterns call for two at a time) and using the entire length (six strands in total >.<) when first starting the “Past, Present, Future” kit. I also had a lot of instances of accidentally knotting the thread for not dropping the needle in between stitches.
For this kit though, I don’t have to be as conservative because of the generous amount of floss. 😀 There’s been plenty of extras for the colors I’ve finished.
I was happy to find that this kit had arrived when I got home yesterday! I stitched a good portion yesterday afternoon, but then found out that I used the wrong color and had to undo all the work I did. 😦
The design and the threads are so vibranttt. The instructions say that I’ll have to tie bullion knots and lazy daisies and they look difficult..
Must also say that I love the packaging. It’s resealable and compact enough for me to carry with me wherever.
I don’t know what to make of the thread sorter provided. One end of the threads are attached to a piece of double-sided tape sandwiched between two pieces or card stock. It was nearly impossible to get the thread out without ripping apart the card stock. Instead, I’m cutting the threads as close to the sorter as I can and I’m hoping by doing this, there’ll be enough thread.
This will be the first time I’ll be stitching without tying knots in the back. I’ll probably get a big no-no from how I cross-stitched in the past :X
Got to complete the stitches for one color today and a bit more of the next 🙂
halfstitch 