Updates

I promised an update and here it is.

As you can see, I have made more progress on the sky portion of Astral Lions and have finished the large lion head. I am pleased with the progress I have made so far and happy that there have been very few "pull-outs".


I have also started another small project from "The Cross Stitcher" magazine issue 205 (Christmas 2008). It's Elvis!!! Yea, I'm an Elvis fan. I get that from my mom, I think. I am also a huge fan of Lisa Marie Presley - she is an incredible singer and musician just like her father. Here is a picture of what I managed to get done last night:


The chart is located on page 75 of this magazine. I am stitching it on 28ct Ivory Evenweave. I am still learning my way stitching on Evenweave - this is my 2nd or 3rd piece on this particular kind of fabric. At first I began the project on 14ct Black Aida, but decided that would be too dark and the white areas in the pattern would have to be stitched, so I switched.

And finally, a picture of my Sandy.


As you can see, she likes to share her food with her toy mouse/mice!

Happy Stitching!!!

HalloSAL and other stuff

I have recently joined a stitching group called HalloSAL. I am looking forward to participating in this group over the next year.

I will be posting an update on Astral Lions very soon. For now, here is a picture of my kitten, Sandy. She loves to play with the floss while I stitch. I have to keep stopping to train her not to play with it, lol. She is a joy to have around and great company!

And did I mention she's a Spartan fan! GO Green! GO White!! GO MSU!!!

...And the Second Finish

I finished the second blackwork piece from the recent Just Cross Stitch magazine (Sep/Oct 2009). You'll notice that I used long stitches instead of over 1 square for this one. I think I do like the way it turned out after all.

And here are a couple of pictures of the two pieces side-by-side.




















Now, I think I will purchase a double matted frame to put them in and display them in my home.

One Down...One to Go

I finished one of the Blackwork pieces this evening. It was very interesting to stitch this type of pattern. I am very pleased with the outcome.

Blackwork Ornaments

Well, my dad went into the hospital last night after having a few dizzy spells all day Sunday. Being a cardiac patient (4 bypasses at the end of Feb 2008), they wanted to keep him for observation. So, this morning I got together a couple of pieces of black Aida fabric to try my hand at blackwork. The latest issue of Just Cross Stitch (Sep/Oct 2009) has a couple of small patterns on pp. 58-59. I started one of the patterns and didn't really pay attention to detail - that is, I didn't stitch over 1 square at a time. Here is what I have so far on that one:

The other one I decided to do it the right way and am pleased with how it is turning out so far. Here is what I have:

I actually did make a couple of intentional changes to the patterns in the magazine. The first change is rather obvious. I didn't like the look of orange on white so I chose to use black Aida instead. Also, I am using DMC 971 instead of DMC 946 floss. It gives it more of a Halloween tone as well as allowing the stitching to stand out a bit more.

I think I will start the other one over and do it right!

Astral Lions

I have been working on this project a few hours a day and it is really starting to take shape! These pictures show how the right ear is beginning to form and some of the sky.

This picture is a view from an angle to give a different perspective.

Astral Progress

It's been a little while since I last posted an update. I have made some significant progress on Astral Lions and the pics are below.




















I am in between semesters at the moment and will be spending more time on this project until the 1st of October.