Moon Hare Finished

My Heaven and Earth Design – Moon Hare – by Suzanne Gyseman is totally stitched:

The color is mega off. For reference, the fabric was white 22 count hardanger. This is what happens when you take a photo at night with a normal light bulb – not even a LED bulb. This was started 2/27/21 and completed 11/23/21 – 49,392 stitches. I am very happy with how it turned out, and the blissful fox in Mini Dandelion – another HAED design – will be a companion piece for this Moon Hare.

I either go cute or unbelievably traditional. This one is definitely in the cute category.

Life update – October 1, I hurt myself reaching for an item of clothing on my nightstand. I thought I broke a rib. After a week of pain, I called my PCP. She ordered an X-ray. The radiologist said nothing was broken.

6 weeks later I was no better, and let me tell you, every time I sneezed, it was a come to Jesus moment. I called to see a back specialist. After a couple of MRIs, it turns out I broke 2 bones in my back. I have a 3-5 month recovery ahead of me. About the only thing I can do is cross stitch, and I have graduated to being able to put on my own coat, and seat belt, so I am healing.

We’re getting take out for Thanksgiving, and looking forward to seeing our daughter. I’m still finding lots to be grateful for, still feel blessed, and I do wish each and every one of you who celebrate Thanksgiving a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Hugs…

Happy New Year

I’m doing a year end wrap up and it has been a doozy of a year for me.

Lots of cross stitching happened this year, and I missed a full month in the hospital and rehab home, so was a bit surprised when I realized I stitched 119,761 full cross stitches over 5 projects:

The Finery Of Nature a Dimensions kit

Morning Praise a Dimensions kit

Stormy a Heaven and Earth Design

Aviator Owl CutePatternsbyMaria – an Etsy shop

Old World Map 2 a Golden Kite design

All have been pictured on the blog before except for Aviator Owl, so I didn’t post additional photos of them, but here’s a photo of Aviator Owl:

There is always debate amongst cross stitchers about back stitching, and this design has a LOT of backstitching. I think it really adds to the design, but am not a fan of the technique. My husband can’t see any difference between the two eyes. Can you? I can. I think it adds a lot of definition to the stitch out which is why I’m hanging in there and will continue stitching the back stitching.

I used a hand dyed fabric for this and when I ordered it, I thought it was more a stormy sky blue. I got grey. I don’t think it’s a great fabric choice and plan on adding a little blue to the fabric by lightly brushing on diluted Tsukineko ink with clear aloe gel. Sure hope it works.

I also changed a couple of the colors. The scarf called for 2 shades of orange. I’m a red and white scarf person, so used a mystery red from my thread collection for DMC 970, and DMC 321 instead of DMC 606. It really pops, and I wanted it to pop.

I’ve also worked on scrap quilts, and an embroidered quilt. Surprise, surprise, 2020 was a good year for creating after all. I don’t make plans because, heck, I’m retired. I have the luxury to do what I want, when I want, so anything accomplished is always celebrated. I am well and truly blessed.

A short update on my leg. My appointment was moved up as staff is being moved from private doctor’s offices to the hospitals because of Covid. sigh Please take care everyone.

Thursday’s x-rays showed my bone is still healing, but I’ve been approved for 25% weight bearing. If I do well, then it will be increased. If I do lousy, it’ll stop, then be restarted a week later.

I still have to wear the big brace for another 4 weeks, but I’ve been slowly gaining range of motion. I can now bend my knee 70 degrees. Yeah for that! This progress might be like taking baby steps, but I’m moving in the right direction. It’s good as far as I’m concerned.

I wish all my readers a Happy, Healthy 2021. May you surround yourself with kindness, serenity and creativity.

Hugs…

Stormy Update

I’ve been busy cross stitching this month and am making great progress on my HAED – Heaven and Earth Design – Stormy.

I do believe it will be completed in another week or two, and I still love this design.   Considering I’ve spent quality time stitching on this project, I’m very happy I still love the design.

I am so over stitching with filament thread though.  A few thousand stitches call for this material, and as most cross stitchers know, filament thread is a bear to use.  Short strands and bees wax are helpful, but it still separates like crazy.

It will also be very nice not to stitch so many creams, off whites, light greys and many shades of taupe.  I can barely see them against the fabric, but what a difference they make.  The tree branch on the right in the photo is completed.  The tree branch directly under the owl is not.  Big difference, true?

I’m still attending ZOOM meetings with my art group, and it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to meet at our regular location for the rest of the year.  The internet sure has been a wonderful asset during these trying times.

I hope you are all taking care, staying safe and being creative.

Hugs…

Snowing – Are We Sure it’s May?

Hi everyone!!!  Spring, where are you Spring?  Winter has decided it likes it here, and it’s stinking snowing in May.  So far nothing has accumulated, and I’m hoping it doesn’t.  My grape hyacinths, violets, and wind flowers are in full bloom along with some late blooming daffodils.  It’s just not right for snow to interfere with this colorful display.

I haven’t been posting much to the blog, but I have been busy creating, staying positive, and cooking way too much.  I am really looking forward to getting take-out again, and doing my own grocery shopping soon.

Very little quilting has been going on in Casa Diane.  I haven’t stopped, and am slowly piecing another quilt top to be donated plus making a few masks, but my main focus has been on cross stitch.  Yes, it has recaptured my interest after over 40 years of no cross stitching.

My WIP – Stormy by Heaven and Earth design is slowly coming along

Not the greatest of pictures, but this stitching is one strand of floss over one square of 25 count evenweave fabric.  That’s a lot of stitches folks, and mostly all confetti – meaning lots of color changes.  I’m not a fan of confetti.  Happily, the tree branch has less confetti and progress is much faster now.

Can you see that little insect hanging onto the tree branch for dear life?  That little bit of whimsy makes me so happy.

Take care, stay safe and as always,

Hugs…

We’re Home

Hi Everyone!!!  We’re back home and let me tell you, we were motivated to get back home.  My husband drove the long route – to avoid all toll booths and touching money or other people’s hands – and he still did it in 4 days.  They were long days, but you never saw two people so happy to get home as the two of us.

I’m working on two projects:  a donation quilt that should have been completed in Tucson, but we left two weeks early, so I missed 4 sewing days, and my cross stitch project.  Both are active works in progress.

We are staying put in our home, and the days are going by quickly.  I sew a little, I cross stitch a little, I do laundry a little, clean a little, walk 30-45 minutes everyday,  and cook a little.  Oh, I’ve been ordering a lot of goodies too.  😉

Here is the progress on my cross stitch – The Finery of Nature:

The cross stitching and back stitching is completed and so is the green couched thread.  There is still lots of couching to be done, and I’m supposed to add gold metallic French Knots, but haven’t decided if I’ll add them or not.  It’s in my medium sized wooden quilt hoop.  That’s what you see in the 4 corners.

Working on this black fabric was easy in Tucson.  It was sunny all the time, and I had a good spot in the RV to cross stitch.  Home?  Home is a different story.  We’ve seen the sun once in 7 days, and had snow, rain, and gloomy, dark days for the rest of the week.  That’s how the ordering came about.  I decided I need a Brightech magnifier/light combo.  Amazon to the rescue.  Not really though.  The company is located in Los Angles.  Looks like I’m going to have a very long wait for that order to be delivered.

You know what?  That’s okay.  I understand.  Oh, I’d like my light, but I’d rather have everyone involved stay healthy.  I can wait.

In the interim, I brought my Ott light down so I could couch the green thread today, and it worked, but it also did what it usually does – hurt my eyes.  Am I the only one who has problems with that light?  I’ll only work on this project when the sun is out from now on.

While I miss my friends and attending the meetings I enjoy, I’m discovering staying at home isn’t horrible.  Granted, I have food, electricity, water, the all important toilet paper, books to read – the real deal – the ones you hold in your hand and turn pages,  and plenty of projects and supplies to keep me busy.  I’m one of the lucky ones.  My heart goes out to the many who have been laid off, have bills that need to be paid, and children home from school.   Their stress level must be sky high.

I can’t help everybody, but I can donate to Foodlink, and you can bet I tip the people who make deliveries to the house.

All the people who are working in essential jobs – medical staff, truckers, fire and police personnel, military, waste management, etc…  All I can do is pray for them, make masks,  and thank them for their service.

Let’s see if we can flatten the curve, and be kind to all.

Hugs…

 

WIP Wednesday

No more talking about my future plans.  I do believe I jinxed myself.  No cabaret happened, and no quilt show road trip happened.  I woke up, got out of bed and promptly injured my knee.  How the heck do you do that?  It’s a tendon thing, and I had my feet pointing in one direction and turned to put on my wedding ring.  That’s all it took.  This aging process does create some “hard to believe it could happen” injuries.

Frozen peas and a knee brace, and 24 hours of resting helped a lot, and while I was really sad to miss the quilt show, I occupied myself with cross stitching:

 

Lots of progress has been made, and lots of thread changes to the chart also.

First –  I substituted all the thread colors for the nest, and am happier that it looks more natural.  Topaz and garnet were in that nest, and I have never seen a bird’s nest with those colors.

Second –  The colors for the small red flowers along the bottom of the bird nest square are a deeper red.  I love the color red, and the colors called for were more orange than red – which went well with the topaz and garnet nest, but since I changed that out, I changed the flower colors to go with my nest colors.

Third – the dragon fly needed something fun.  I kept the original colors, but changed out the lightest wing color from 2 strands of DMC to one strand of DMC and one strand of Petite Treasure Braid., and am seriously thinking of removing the lightest color from the dragon fly body and doing the same thing – one strand of DMC with one strand of Petite Treasure Braid.

Am I having fun?  You betcha!

My husband drove me to the local needlecraft store – the West, and I hobbled around making a few purchases.  My very first piece of evenweave fabric, the aforementioned Petite Treasure Braid and some Kreinik – which I’ve already decided not to use on this project.

The pattern calls for gold cording to couch around the border leaves.  I just couldn’t use a gold cord in this pretty design.  It was too much a departure from the look I’m creating.  The Kreinik is a great color, but I’m not sure the sparkle would look all that great now.  I’m thinking a nice rayon cord would add a bit of understated shine, and add a different texture.  I have lots of that at home, so will wait till I’m home to sew that step.

If I don’t like that, I’ll look for a fingering weight or thinner brown boucle yarn.  That would look very natural.  Wish I would have thought about that for the nest.  Now that would have added lots of texture and made a nice cozy nest.

You should be able to tell by now that I don’t give a hoot about following the rules.  I’m a firm believer in using whatever textile product I own, or can source, that I think will work well in a project.  Who cares if yarn is used in a cross stitch project?  Who cares if sewing threads are used?  There are some awfully pretty variegated 12, 30 and 40  wt sewing threads on the market, and I own a lot of them.  As far as I’m concerned all fibers are fair game.

Yes, I’m back cross stitching, but hold onto your hats, because I’m going rogue and changing up colors, threads and textures to my heart’s desire.  This is going to be fun, people.

 

Hugs…

400th Post

Oh my.  I just realized this is my 400th post.  It seems like I just started blogging.  Guess it’s been lots longer than I thought.  Here’s to lots more posts in the future!!!

I am having a stone cold great time in Tucson.  Our friends just left after a wonderful two week visit with us, and we are so grateful they make the long plane ride to spend some time with us.  See you again soon, Mike and Sue.

Cross stitch is still capturing my attention.  This is the progress I’ve made on my The Finery of Nature:

 

I have also ordered 2 Heaven and Earth designs, which I can not wait to start.  And no, I’m not a multiple project cross stitcher.  One at a time, plus quilting is all I want to juggle.  And let me tell you, this is hard.  Stormy – a really cute owl – has invaded my dreams.  Luckily, I don’t have the recommended fabric with me, or I’m afraid my resolve would be sorely tested.

I got my machine embroidered quilt back from the long arm quilter I tried – Rebecca Hall-Martinez.  She did a wonderful job on my quilt, and her fee was reasonable.  That woman has more talent in her baby finger, than I do in my entire body.  See what I mean:

 

 

The weather has been great.  We’ve had some ups and downs, but anything above 60 and I’m happy as can be.  Even when it’s been a bit cooler, it’s been lots of sunshine, and that’s what I crave.  Bring on the sunshine!!!

Tomorrow I’m going to a birthday party during the day and a cabaret in the evening, Sunday the Tucson Quilt Show at the Convention Center.  My husband is great.  He’s driving 4 quilters, dropping us off at the door, and then picking us up when we’re finished.  It’s lots of fun attending a quilt show with friends.

Next week is jam packed – like every week – 3 quilt meetings, 1 embroidery meeting, the daily walking, grocery shopping, eating out, and last but not least, going to the parks.  The parks here are great.  They have paths I can walk on, plants I’m learning about, and I spotted a cotton tail rabbit on my last walk.

The Jeep needs a little repair, so no wheels for a couple of days.  I’m still going to attempt to fit in a visit to a Tucson needlework store – the West.  I’d like to see if they have the fabric I need for Stormy.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  I’ll be putting myself on the path of temptation.  Ought to be interesting to see what develops.  Stay tuned for the outcome.

Hugs…

Oh, No!

Yes, this is titled Oh, No! because I’ve gone down the rabbit hole while in Tucson.  I picked up cross stitching again after not doing any for 30 years, and my has the cross stitching world changed.

It all started because I can’t sew in my RV.  I do go to quilt clubs in my resort and across the street, but that’s only 3 days a week.  What am I going to do the other 4 days?

I do walk everyday, I do socialize with my friends every day, I do go shopping, and do cook and clean.  That still leaves a lot of hours of the day with nothing to occupy my creativity.

When I’m home, I sew every single day.  I walk into my studio – who am I kidding? I have taken up 2 rooms in my house, so I have a choice of machines and projects – and am immediately transported to a place of happiness – even when I make mistakes and have to rip out stitches.  It’s all part and parcel of my creating.

So back to Tucson and RV life.  I was getting a wee bit high strung – just ask my husband.  I needed something to do in the evenings.  I have been watching Anna from the Woolie Mammoth as she cross stitches, but wasn’t tempted to get in on the cross stitch bandwagon at all.  I enjoy her personality, and like seeing what she is doing, but we definitely have different taste in cross stitch projects.

Then I made the mistake of googling the top 10 floss tube channels.  My, oh my.  The Russian cross stitchers blew me away.  The Irish and UK cross stitchers blew me away too.

Two kits were ordered – both I’d seen stitched by Luda.  A scroll frame was borrowed from a friend, and I was just waiting for the kits I ordered to arrive.

While waiting on the first kit I ordered to be shipped, i started on the second design  – The Finery of Nature:

This is on 16 count black Aida cloth with 2 strands of DMC floss.  My other kit is on 26 count linen, and I have a third I’m contemplating, but that’s on a smaller thread count, and is done 1×1 – which means one strand of floss over one thread of the cloth.  I’m going to need a good light and a magnifier for that, plus it’s big.  I’m holding off on it to see if I still love cross stitching after the two kits I already ordered are complete.  I do exercise some control.fd

The Finery of Nature was a PDF file.  After a trip to Hobby Lobby for the floss, it was ready, set, go!!!   PDF files are the bomb.  I downloaded the design to my laptop and my iPad.  I use my iPad to follow the graphs by enlarging the heck out of them, and  I especially love the PDF files that let you edit them, so you can highlight the stitches you’ve completed.  It’s a whole new world for cross stitching, baby!!!

I’m not exactly doing a great job of it, but I’m having fun.  I need to do better with my tension, and part of that is because I can’t get the fabric in the scroll frame I’m using taut.  Part of it is me.  All I know is I’m having fun, and that’s what it’s all about.

Hugs…