First quadrant of Celestial Dragon - FINISHED!

Well, THAT took awhile - but here's a pic!

"Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler - first quadrant finished!

I am going to work on the bottom right quadrant next.  It only took me a year to finish this one...

I also finished a fluffy afghan for one of my pregnant lady friends!  It is slightly less square than it should be, but hopefully some blocking will tighten up the corners.

Is anybody else working on any fun projects this weekend?  Please share if you are!

Oh, and thank you to everyone who left such nice comments on my Fair Isle piece - I appreciate your encouragement!  It's always nice to know people are popping in here to look.  :)

Have a great weekend!

-Erin

Updates on WIPs

Happy Tuesday, readers!

I have been a busy bee, as usual.  I wanted to update you guys on everything I have been working on lately (hint: it is a LOT!).  I have been getting back into cross stitching as well as maintaining my knitting workload - the benefit to knitting being that I can do it on the train on the way to and from work without looking like that crazy lady sitting in the corner, sewing, pants speckled with cat hair.  :-)

So, without further ado...

1.) "Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler

"Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler

The cross stitches in this quadrant are almost finished - I just need to fill in some more turquoises and yellows.  It is such a lovely piece!  The picture really doesn't do it justice - there is so much SPARKLE in it due to all of the blending filament.  I will make sure to get some great macro shots once it is finished and beaded to really show off all of the bling.  I should have it finished in, oh, about three years at this rate.  :)

2.) "Wise Owl" from "Hold that Thought Bookmarks" by Sandy Orton

"Wise Owl" from "Hold that Thought Bookmarks" by Sandy Orton

I am stitching this one again because my fiancé bought the pillow ornament from my shop and now has it hanging in his apartment in Houston, and I have been meaning to re-stitch him for a while to restock.  I found a tiny little whitewashed white frame at Goodwill that will be the perfect size for him!  I will be sure to post pictures once he is framed and mounted.  You can never have too many owls sitting around!

3.) Knit dishcloth in "Playful Plaid" pattern

Knit dishcloth in "Playful Plaid" pattern

This pattern is a variation on the traditional ball band dishcloth pattern.  The plaid pattern is created by wrapping the yarn around the needle three times and then dropping the stitches in the next row, then you slip the loops in the next six rows thereafter.  It is a lot easier than it looks!  You can find the pattern over at Ribbed for Your Pleasure.  For this piece, I used Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn in Sunshine (MC) and Batik (CC) on size 8 US needles, and I really like how it turned out.

4.) Cashmere brain hat - now with improved packaging!

Cashmere brain hat - wrapped to look like a surgical pack

I have been knitting these brain hats since about November now (this was my twelfth one), and the buyer for this one is a human (MD) neurologist (I have to clarify, because I know more veterinary neurologists than I do human ones).  He requested that I knit his hat in cashmere yarn, so I knit it using Debbie Bliss's Cashmerino Aran yarn in silver.  While I was packaging it up for the mail last night, I had a great idea - I would wrap it like a sterile surgical pack!  I used tissue paper instead of surgical draping, of course, and I borrowed two strips of autoclave tape from our stockroom and filled in the indicator lines with a Sharpie (autoclave tape turns black under sterilizing heat and temperature conditions, so you know that whatever you autoclave is sterile until you open it).  I hope he appreciates the humor - I think I am going to wrap all of my brain hats like this in the future!

I had some yarn left over from the brain hat, and coincidentally, my officemate also got me another skein of the same kind of yarn in a different color (dusty blue) as a Christmas gift, so I am going to be working on learning Fair Isle knitting so I can knit myself a two-color cashmere hat!  Stay tuned for pics of that project - hopefully I can finish it before spring!

I also have a lovely little pink pair of baby mittens that I am working on getting ready for my Etsy shop (because God knows I have enough pink yarn in my stash from those brain hats).  :)

So... there you have it - a little peek into my WIPs and a couple of knitting finishes!  I hope you enjoyed it.  Thanks for stopping by and for all of your wonderful comments - I hope my new readers are enjoying my blog!

Cheers,
-Erin

P.S.  If you have a minute, go check out Heather's Stitching Story - Heather is having a giveaway for some wonderful Little House/Country Cottage Needleworks patterns!  Country Cottage Needleworks is the company that published the pattern for "A Day at the Beach" by Nikki Leeman, which I finished back in October.

Finished - First Christmas Ornament of 2012! Scarlet and Gray Christmas Ornament

Well, readers, I have been busy, busy, busy!

I have stitched Teresa Wentzler's Byzantine Ornaments in the past before, but I wanted to be able to sell Christmas ornaments this year, so I decided to make my own design.  I made up a little pattern that is inspired by TW's designs, but I used a completely different shape, added some new stitches, changed the colors, and added more sparkly beads!  I wanted to stitch something in scarlet and gray/silver, because my tree is all decorated in red and silver, and because I am a double-degree graduate and HUGE fan of The Ohio State University (Go Bucks!).  TW's ornaments are all gold, so that really isn't the best option for my tree.  So... here is the result!

Scarlet and Gray Christmas Ornament, designed and stitched by Erin Turowski

Close-up of center motif - squares edged with buttonhole stitching

Close-up of border motif - satin-stitched diamonds

Scarlet and Gray Christmas Ornament (reverse) - backed with gray felt

Scarlet and Gray Christmas Ornament, hanging on my Christmas tree!

 I am quite happy with how this turned out!  It is a very sparkly and shiny little ornament.  It measures 3" x 3" (7.6 cm x 7.6 cm) square.  I stitched it using DMC embroidery floss and accented it with Kreinik silver cording and Mill Hill seed beads.  It is stitched on white 28-count Monaco fabric, and I covered the back with gray felt and trimmed the sides with shiny silver polyester/nylon cord trim.  It is stuffed with a few pieces of polyester fiberfill.  To make the ornament, I used the technique I explained in my Pillow Ornament Tutorial a few months ago.

I also want to stitch these ornaments in different colors (purple and silver, blue and silver, and a few variations of gold), but I just wanted to finish one so I could see how this pattern turns out.  I will probably still stitch a few of TW's Byzantine ornaments this year for gifts, too, but I am really proud of my creation.  :)  If you want to bring one home for your tree or give one as a gift, check out my Etsy shop!  I take custom color requests, too.

I have also been working on Celestial Dragon - here is a photo update!

"Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler

It is really slow going, but this piece is gorgeous, so it's worth it.  (As you may be able to tell, I am a sucker for sparkly things.)

I also FINALLY found some white frames for a couple of un-framed Christmas cross stitch pieces I have laying around, so I will be mounting and framing those soon.

So... does anyone else have any fun Christmas projects they are working on?  If you do, please comment below and leave a link to your blog/Flickr/Etsy/whatever - I would love to see what my readers are up to!

Cheers - and have an awesome day!

-Erin

A new James Herriot-inspired veterinary embroidery project!

Well, my last post - the free squirrel monkey pattern - was a rollicking success!  My blog had been averaging anywhere from 20 to 40 page views per day, but on both yesterday and today, I got over 150 page views each day!  A couple of sites, including Ellen Maurer-Stroh's cross stitch forum, picked up the pattern and listed it for their readers, so I got a lot of traffic through those avenues.  Hooray!

So, where does that leave me now?  I think it's time for an update!  I designed a new embroidery pattern inspired by the Anglican hymn "All Things Bright and Beautiful," the lyrics of which were made popular by the James Herriot veterinary books.  It is stitching up pretty quickly, so here is a picture of how it looks right now:

"All Things Bright and Beautiful" embroidery piece.  (c) Erin E. Turowski, 2012.

The finished size will be about 8" x 10" (20.3 cm x 25.4 cm).  It is stitched on 28-count white Monaco fabric.  The little orange kitty on the right is the first of six animals surrounding the poem.  Here is a close-up of him.  He was inspired by my own orange kitty, Julius!

The orange kitty from "All Things Bright and Beautiful."  (c) Erin E. Turowski, 2012.

The other animals will include a brown Laborador-type dog, a blue bird, a light brown Jersey cow, a black horse, and a pink pig.  I can't wait to finish it!  It is really hard to find veterinary-themed needlework, so I am glad to finally be making my own.  :)

Naturally, because I have been busy with this piece, I haven't made a terrific amount of progress on "Celestial Dragon."  Nonetheless, I have made some headway - I filled in some dark blue and gold on the dragon's body, and I (mostly) finished his feet and gave him talons.

"Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler

I had to keep my needlework away from my very delicious and saucy dinner tonight.  I tried a new recipe for cauliflower pizza crust (you know, the one that's all over Pinterest).  The appeal of this recipe is that the whole personal-sized pizza crust has under 150 calories!  I topped mine with red pizza sauce, fresh mozzarella, sliced Roma tomatoes, and fresh basil.  It was delicious!  Here is a picture to whet your appetites.

Cauliflower pizza crust, margherita style!

Now, next week may be a bit slower for my blog.  I am traveling to the Outer Banks with my fiancé, my sisters, their husbands, and my parents.  We are going to spend a whole week with each other - I can't wait! I love my family very much, and as time goes by, we all just get closer and closer.  I am very thankful to have a great relationship with them all.  :)  So, I will try to hijack my fiancé's laptop and post an update or two (maybe some beach pictures!), but if I am a little quiet, please pardon my absence.

Oh, and after reviewing the feedback from my previous entry, I will maintain the current frequency of my e-mail updates for all of you who are subscribed (approximately 2-3 e-mails per week).  Thank you for your subscriptions, including the new readers who joined this week!

I will leave you today with this lovely little piece, "A Day at the Beach" by Nikki Leeman.  I bought it to stitch while I am on the beach!  I am hoping to have it finished by the time I am back in Boston.

"A Day at the Beach" by Nikki Leeman

Thank you all for reading and for your thoughtful comments!  Have a fantastic day!

Friday Update - "Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler

Hello, readers!  It is a balmy 91 degrees up here in Boston, which means that summer has officially arrived!  I know you can all appreciate how hard it is to stay inside and stitch when it's beautiful outside, but I have managed to get some cross stitching done this week.  If you are new to my blog, I am working on a design called "Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler.  The finished piece will be a monstrously huge 12.9" x 16.6" (32.8 cm x 42.2 cm) leviathan, so this one will take me awhile, but I am buckled down and ready to push onward!

I am still in my first corner, but I have finished the border and have started the dragon.  You can see two of his feet and the beginning of his blue serpentine body.  These colors, by the way, are WONDERFUL!  I love the brilliant blues, greens, and turquoises.

"Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler

Here is a close-up of the Chinese character ("virtue") in the lower left corner.  This character is stitched in two colors of royal blue, all over one thread, so the stitches are very tiny and neat.  I have included a penny for scale - this is 28-count fabric, so this can be a little tough on the eyes!  If you click on the picture, you can really appreciate the detail in the close-up shot.

Detail of "virtue" Chinese character block, with penny shown for scale

Here is a close-up of the dragon's body.  These stitches are made with two different colors of light blue and one strand of star blue Kreinik blending filament (#094).  I tried to capture the light reflecting off of the sparkly blending filament in this picture.  It was tough, but I think you can see some of the stitches sparkling!

Dragon's body, enlarged to show sparkling blending filament

This last photo is a close-up of the dragon's foot and his "fringe," both of which contain one strand of pearl Kreinik blending filament (#032).  Again, I tried to catch the sparkle in this shot, too, especially in the yellow and yellow-green areas.

Dragon's fringe (left) and foot (right), enlarged to show sparkling blending filament

The more I stitch this piece, the more I love it!  The colors and the textures are truly beautiful.  When the stitching is complete, the whole thing will then be peppered with gold and blue seed beads.  I will keep you posted on my progress!  :)

If you are itching for some project finishing tips, my framing tutorial will be posted on Daily Dose of Handmade this coming Sunday, so keep an eye out for it!

And, finally, IT'S FRIDAY!  Here's a happy Shiba Inu to welcome in the weekend.  :)

Thanks for your attention and your kind comments!  If you like what you see, please subscribe.  Have a great weekend, everyone - and stay cool!

-Erin

Less Bitching, More Stitching!

Update - "Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler

So, as promised, here is what I worked on this weekend.  There was probably too much cross stitching and not enough "real" work involved, but anyway, here goes:

First of all, here is a "before" shot of "Celestial Dragon by Teresa Wentzler:

"Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler

And here is what I finished this weekend.  In this corner, I filled in the outer edges, completed the scalloped inner border, started to fill in the blue corners between the outer and inner borders, completed the latticework around the edge of the Chinese character block, and did about half of the Chinese character itself (which means "virtue," by the way).  The Chinese character is over one thread (28-count), so those stitches are TINY, but they are so wonderfully detailed.

"Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler

This is where the bitching comes in - it is just SO HARD to work from this chart!  The colors are kind of randomly scattered throughout the design, and the symbols look similar to each other and are all in black-and-white (especially in the dragon itself, which I haven't even started yet).  For as intricate as Teresa Wentzler's designs are, it would be really awesome if she had made color charts for them.  :-/  However, it is going to be gorgeous when I (finally) finish it, so I'll keep on plugging along.

I also designed and stitched a little plaid keychain Saturday night so I could list something new in my Etsy store.

Lots of work to do this week, so I don't know how much more I'm going to get done between now and this weekend.  But until then... less bitching, more stitching - and thanks for stopping by!

-Erin :)

Updates on WIPs

Not a whole lot to update on today (WIPs = works in progress).  I have been crazy busy with work stuff!

Still stuck on one corner on the dragon.  I finished all of the light gold in the corner and started the inside edge of the border.  It's really hard to get excited about another huge, intricate piece when I have a couple of smaller things in the works.  Plus, I hate stitching in browns and tans - I need some colors!

And here is a new project I started; just something simple.  Does anyone want to venture a guess as to what it is?  Hint: the tweeded (two colors mixed together) color pattern is pretty distinctive!

New Cross Stitch Project - "Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler

My next project is probably going to take forever, but this is such a gorgeous design, and my fiancé has an entire house full of furniture made from re-purposed Asian teak wood, so I am going to try to finish this before the wedding.

Here is a link to the chart, a stunning 13" x 17" monster, and a picture of the model piece:

"Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler

Daunting, huh?  Well, here goes nothing.

I am going to stitch this beauty over two threads on 28-count antique white Monaco fabric.  It is important to note that there are some errata in the chart, so make sure to check TW's website before starting (she lists the errata for each piece for reference).  Also, there are some specialty materials involved, so here is where you can find them:

• Kreinik blending filament #002V (vintage gold)
• Kreinik #4 braid #002V (vintage gold)
• Kreinik blending filament #032 (pearl)
• Kreinik blending filament #094 (star blue)
• Mill Hill Petite Glass Beads #40557 (gold)
• Mill Hill Petite Glass Beads #40252 (iris)

In case you are confused, the numbering system for Kreinik threads can be a little problematic.  The braids are described by weight (#4 is lighter than #8, #8 is lighter than #12, and so on up to #32), and the blending filament is a one-stranded metallic thread.  The number at the end is the color code: #002 is gold, and there are various different types (#002V = vintage, #002HL = high luster, #002J = Japan gold).  If you poke around the Kreinik website, you can see what I'm talking about.

First, I whip-stitched the edges to keep them from fraying.  You can just use any spare thread for this.  I used to use masking tape, and whip-stitching takes a little longer, but I don't like the sticky residue the tape leaves on your hands as you work on the piece later.  Here is a piece of the finished edge:

Whip-stitched edge - prevents fraying

For designs like this, I usually stitch the outside border first and make ultra-sure that the dimensions are right before I stitch the inside.  That way, I have a solid, verified reference point for everything in the design.  You can just stitch one leg of each "X" the first time around to save yourself time if you need to remove stitches.  This particular design is wider than my embroidery hoop, so I stitch halfway across the fabric and then place a loose stitch with contrasting floss to mark the halfway point, like this:

Loose placekeeper stitch placed at halfway point to keep track when I move my hoop

When I go back to put the top halves of the "X"s in, I will remove this stitch - it is just temporary to help me count.

I also placed a loose marker "X" in the lower right corner outside of the border (and marked it on my pattern) to keep my piece from being flipped upside down as I work.  It is tough to see, but it's about an inch in from the outside edge of the fabric.

Marker "X" in the lower right corner

Now, I can stitch all around the outside of the design's edge.  Here is what it looks like when I'm done:

Entire edge finished - serves as reference frame for design

For this design, I am going to work one corner at a time until the frame is finished, then I will stitch the dragon in the middle.  So, to wrap up this post, here is a detail of the bottom left corner so far:

Detail of bottom left corner - one color only

Until next time...