Back to Mom and Baby Turtle and Page Finish!

Hello again!  Wow I am on a blogging roll but still have lots to catch up on.  Well another good friend of mine had a baby this summer and I wanted to stitch her a birth sampler. I got inspired after finding out the theme of his room was celestial space.  So I found a really cute pattern, bought all the supplies and started it a little before I had to fly back home to Nepal...

Unfortunately During transit in my suitcase, the fabric RIPPED along the fold lines!! I was so upset because I also had a few times where I was gently pulling the thread through and the stitched ripped the fabric too.  This obviously was a poor quality fabric :(

Anyways to cheer myself up I decided to go back to one of my favorite WIPS Mom and Baby Turtle from HAED.

The last time you saw it in April it looked like this...

I naturally started on the next page to the right.  I worked so fast and furious on this page that I forgot to take a lot of photos but here is some of my progress.

I actually finished this whole page in about two weeks which is crazy fast for me!  I really do love the colors and even though it has tons of confetti the shading looks so beautiful.  In fact I can't wait to start stitching on this again 😄

Happy Stitching!

Fourth Finish of 2015 Bushel and a Peck

Hello again!  I wasn't kidding when I said that even though I hadn't been blogging I had been stitching! While back home in the U.S. I happened to be wandering around a Hobby Lobby store when this Bushel and a Peck design stopped me in my tracks.  I have a very good friend who loves that song because her Grandma used to sing it to her when she was little.  This friend also had a new baby last November and I wanted to make her something else since I made a birth sampler for her first child.  So this was perfect!  

Here's how far I got on the first day I started it on May 28th...

And little by little I was able to make more progress...

I had a small problem that I ran out of white floss.  This happened because I didn't want to have really long backstitch threads.  I tried to break them up in smaller chunks wherever I could but it caused me to use a little bit more thread than the kit provided.

Here is my finished stitching including the beads, French knots and back stitching!

I was even able to find a lovely frame at Hobby Lobby that I felt really matched the chalkboard theme of this design!  Overall it took me a little less than a month to start and finish this with really limited stitching time.  The designer of "Bushel & Peck" is Design Works Crafts, Inc.  The finished size is 8" x 10", and it was stitched on black 14 count Aida that was included in the kit.  My friend loved it which also made me happy that I found it and was able to finish it before we left to go back to Nepal!

Happy Stitching!

Around the World in 80 stitches SAL

At the end of 2014 when I decided to join the stitch only from stash group on Facebook, this was the last project I bought supplies to kit up.  Originally I think this design was a SAL from Papillon Creations in 2013. Coming to this party way late and getting to see some of the finished pieces made me excited to start stitching this.  There are two options for this design, a cross stitch version and a specialty stitch version.  Part of me really wanted to just do the cross stitch version.  But I decided that I needed to challenge myself because I only knew a couple of specialty stitches including French knots.  Then at some point someone in a cross stitch group I'm in on Facebook told me they were going to start a SAL of this design starting in May.  I was so excited because I've always wanted to be a part of a true SAL (Angie Designer was my first but I was always really far behind everyone else to count it) and here was my chance!  Since I had ordered a few options for the silk thread colors I decided to do a floss toss and see what colors would look best with my fabric.  Here is what that looked like as I started to prepare for the SAL at the end of March...

The fabric is a color called Jaded by Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie, and the flosses are hand dyed silk floss from Mo's Sale.  I don't know why but I decided to challenge myself not only with learning new specialty stitches, but also with using silk floss for the very first time too!

Well working with silk was a little different, but I sort of got the hang of it.  Here is where my stitching was when I decided to get a head start on the borders on April 23rd...

Part 1 is the two hearts and Part 2 is the sort of tulip looking flowers in between them.  Well even with the Earthquake and deciding to take some time with my children away from Nepal for a little bit, I did start stitching Part 1 in May like everyone else!  Here are my progress photos...

I finally finished Part 1 on June 18th! A little behind my goal of June 1st but a lot of life happened that I was still dealing with this summer... You can really see how much changes in lighting affect color especially with my fabric.  I've gotten a bit further since then but I'll share more progress with you later.  Until then...Happy Stitching!

Life is Good Framed in Kathmandu

Hello again!  Last year when we arrived I started stitching the design "Life is Good" and completed it here in Kathmandu.  The kit came with a hoop to frame it with.  But I just have never been fond of using hoops to frame stitched pieces.  I had tried out bringing a stitched piece to another local framer here with pretty horrible results.  But that frame shop had moved and I was trying out a new one and thought I would use this small piece as a test for the new framers.  

Here is the finished result!

It looks great and really was a bargain (I don't think that I paid more than $10 for the frame mat and glass)!  But I had multiple things framed and got to see this before it was completed by chance and I'm glad I did because they used actual staples to staple the fabric to the back.  It is totally fine for something this small but I'm glad I didn't try out the framing with another finished piece that I had invested hundreds of hours on.  I decided to stick with my local framer back in Michigan for the rest of my stitched pieces that I want to finish by framing.  Have you ever had a bad framing experience with your stitched work?  Happy Stitching!

Third Finish of 2015 Norwegian Flag Table Runner!

Hello again! If you can remember back to earlier this year I was working on my Nowegian Table Runner by Permin.  I was about halfway done the last time I showed you my progress at the end of March.  My goal was to have it finished in time to display it for the May 17th holiday in Norway.  Well I did complete the stitching with a month to spare before my deadline!  Here are some progress photos...

Here is the piece all finished!

And here is a close up of the Nowegian flags and my signature.

It felt great to have another finish under my belt this year! But I'm really happy because I've had this kit gathering dust in my stash for a few years and now it is complete...well the stitching is anyways.  I have a grand plan to do some quilting in the shapes of Norwegian flags to make the underside of the table runner but then it got put on hold.  This is my very first time working on linen and using Pearle Cotton to stitch was but I found stitching this piece really enjoyable!  I think the simple design and big blocks of color helped too.  Well I hope everyone has a great weekend!  

Happy Stitching!

Updates on Girl with a Pearl Earring from April

Hello out there!  I don't know if anyone still follows or reads me anymore but here is a stitching update. A few posts ago I mentioned that before and after the Earthquake I never stopped stitching.  In March and April I worked pretty diligently on my old WIP Of Vermeer's painting Girl with a Pearl Earring.  Here are some photos of my progress...

I have worked on this a little bit more recently but I am still far away from the next page finish.  When I do finish this page though I will be more than half way done with this piece!

Happy Stitcing!

Hand Painted Silk Factory Tour Part 2

Next our group headed to the Accessories Manufacturing room.

Here are some small pouches they make from their hand painted silk fabric...


Here are many more styles and colors of the bags...



This lady is sewing silk pieces into rosettes that are used on wedding gowns.



She is sewing the rolled hem on a beautiful scarf.



Ironing the silk.



Next we moved to the Stitching Department!  This work room was very nice.  There was lots of natural and artificial lighting, and plenty of fans.  This factory is definitely NOT a "sweatshop".



Here are some of their clothing design sketches...



One of the garments they produce.  In this factory they produce fabrics and garments that are used to create items from the major European high fashion houses.  (But they were discreet and wouldn't name names ;) ...)



The stitchers hard at work.







Our last stop at the factory was the Quality Control Room.

This employee shows off a finished scarf piece that is labeled with each color number used to create it.



And here is what the final product looks like just before it is ironed...



Our tour was now complete and we made a short walk to their showroom.



A fountain outside



An elephant planter outside



This is a tiny selection of the many beautiful scarves they have for sale...



They also specialize in Silk Sarees and they even make silk neckties.



Thank you for sharing this experience with me!  If you would like to see more of the beautiful items they produce you can find them here.

Happy Crafting!