Less Bitching, More Stitching - A cross stitch blog featuring projects and finishing tips.

Showing posts with label finish. Show all posts

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Finished - "All Things Bright and Beautiful"

Good morning, readers! I promised you I would have some stitching done this weekend, and I am not letting you down! I am typing this Sunday morning, and I have already finished a project that was kicking around for awhile. Here is "All Things Bright and Beautiful!"

"All Things Bright and Beautiful." Designed and stitched by Erin E. Turowski

I designed this piece because I am a veterinarian, and there is a lack of veterinary-themed pieces in the cross stitch world. I wanted to be able to make something that shows why I love my profession. The central verses are inspired by a 19th century Anglican hymn - they were adopted later by James Herriot as the titles for his autobiographies. Stitched around the border are six embroidered animals. I selected them because they are all likely to be encountered in veterinary practice, and I designed the motifs myself. Here is a close-up of each of the little critters:

Little orange kitty

Chocolate Labrador retriever

Blue bird

Black stethoscope

Tan Jersey cow

Black horse

Pink pig (Landrace, maybe?)

I like the orange kitty the best, but I am partial. :) I didn't do anything fancy to design these - I just sketched them out as line drawings using KG Chart and tweaked the stitches until the shapes looked right. I also stitched certain words in the text in scarlet and gray to represent my alma mater (Go Bucks - although they looked pretty terrible playing Cal in football yesterday).

Scarlet and gray accent words in each line - Go Bucks!

I am going to list this in my Etsy shop and offer custom embroidery to include the buyer's selected name, vet school, and graduation year, along with embroider in school colors for the "bright," "beautiful," etc.

Now, I am off to Michael's to pick up some floss - now that I have finished this project, of course, I have permission to start another! :)

Have a great weekend, readers. Thanks for taking some time out of your busy day to visit my little blog!

-Erin

Monday, September 10, 2012

Finished - Christmas on the Beach!

Hello, readers!

I have just returned from a stitching trip. My fiancé and I took a semi-impromptu trip to San Diego, so I had a chance to get some stitching done on the plane. Good news - I finally finished "Christmas on the Beach!" Here is a photo:

"Christmas on the Beach"

Sometimes, I have mixed feelings after I backstitch something, but in this case, the backstitching really makes the details pop - especially the presents and the ornaments on the tree. I am really happy with this finished piece! :) Now, I just have to motivate myself to frame it so I don't have so many loose seashells sitting around my apartment.

I also made some progress on another beach-themed piece, "A Day at the Beach." I feel like the last rose of summer trying to finish these things in September, but this one is really cute, and I really like the hand-dyed thread in it.

"A Day at the Beach"

I am making headway on the center panel. Here is a peek at the model:

"A Day at the Beach" by Nikki Leeman

This pattern uses Crescent Colours hand-dyed floss in Blueberry Tart (blue), Peanut Brittle (tan), and Poblano Pepper (green). This floss is so smooth - it really glides through the fabric, and there is a bit of an ombre character to the fibers. Plus, it's from New Albany, Ohio - just on the outskirts of my old stomping grounds in Columbus! The colors in the picture below aren't the ones in this piece, but the picture shows some of the pretty colors in which you can order this floss. I think I bought it for about $2.00/skein (5 yards) from Stoney Creek's website.