Week What??

I really don't know what week it is. I took a ton of weeks off.  

I did some scrapbooking and I was also sick and I didn't want to work on it sick. Plus getting the girls ready for online school and then in person for 2 days a week. 

And celebrating two birthdays, they are now 17 and 15.

 

So here are the latest and great pictures.

Between July 26 and Sept 21, I finished the second snowman and started filling in the snowbank. I also made the little bird. 

This is close up of the bird, he was supposed to be white but I could hardly see him on the background, so I used one thread of red and one of brown to make him more noticeable. I like him!

I made a mistake on the cat. So sad. So frustrating. The tail is right, the white chest is right and the red scarf is right but there is a mistake in his body. Off by one thread. Grrrrr

So I went back to the snowbank and the snowflakes under the border. 

This was my progress by Friday night on the 25th of September. 

Now to pick out part of the cat, hopefully, I can save the parts that are right. The goal right now is to have it finished by the 10th of October to take it into the shop to have both stockings made into stockings. 

Until next time! Happy Stitching! 

Stocking 2 Weeks 6 & 7

I missed posting last week so today you will a twofer!

On week 6 I finished all the left snowbank and stitched the snowmen's hats and part of one snowman!

For whatever reason, I was having a hard time stitching the white on this fabric. I did a lot of ripping and restitching. 

Probably just old eyes. 

Week 7 was also a slow week. Been tired and stressed and we are all tired of being home together so much. 

So I haven't felt like stitching. 

I finished the body of the first snowman. 

He still needs arms and a nose.

Cut I have been doing some other things. watch for that post.

Stocking #2 Week #5

The top of the stocking is done!!  Except to add the year and the individual snowflakes. The flakes have to wait until the rest is done so they don't come undone. 

The very top of the stocking. I didn't want to take it off the frame, so you can't see it all. On each side of her name, 

I will put 20 so it will read to mean made in 2020. 

All rolled up and I started working on the snowbank 

which starts the slope into the toe part of the stocking. 

I still have lots of work to do. 

Leti and Nick were here for dinner the other night and were able to see them in person, They are both very impressed and happy with them. They hope their new home will be ready for Christmas. 

So they can hang there for their first Christmas in their first home. 

Happy Stitching!

Stocking #2 Week #4

Another productive week on this stocking!

This is the picture I took before rolling up 

the stocking up higher on the frame!

Here is this week's progress. The letters seem to go fast more me. 

I did have to take the S out on Christmas because it was one stitch too high. So the row above of letters looked off. Easy fix. And surprising look it looks much better. Funny how the eye can see it. 

Happy Stitching!!

Stocking #2 Week #3

Friday, June 26th was the end of the three-week mark of working on the second stocking! Of course, at the end of the evening, I noticed another mistake. So, I ended up doing more riping!

Somehow I didn't get a picture on Friday, I do on Thursday and then on Sunday but I didn't work on it on Saturday.

Here it is on Thursday evening. I left this stocking for second because it is 30 count to the inch and the other was 28 count. I am glad I did this one second, the fabric is a little stiffer, the weave isn't as uneven, it is very square and went on the frame easier, so I don't have to keep messing with the frame to keep it tight. Now if I could only learn to count right. It isn't the counting as much as remember where I am. 

What I had accomplished plus my riping and restitching. Taken on Sunday. 

Wait until you see the progress I am making so far this week.

Happy Stitching!

Stocking #2 Week 2

After I ripped out the house that was in the wrong place it took me two evenings of working on it to have it in the right place. 

It looks so much better down where it is supposed to be.

I hate mistakes, I turned it over to bury my thread when I found this thread crossing over. I was lucky and able to pull it over and stitch it to the stitches in the curve and hide it. 

This is how much I was able to finish this week. 

Here are the two stockings by each other. 

Yes, I have a lot more to do.

Happy Stitching!

Stocking #2 Week 1

I had decided to take some time off between stockings and I had planned to start the second one on June 1st. 

I didn't start it until Friday, June 5. 

Here it is at the very start. Leti had picked different colors than what we did on Nick's and I was making sure this is what she still wanted what we planned on. Yes, she was happy with her choices.

 I had this much done by Sunday.

By Thursday I had gone this far, I was so happy with my progress. Until I noticed that the fourth window was too high. I kept checking and I thought I was in the right spot. I was to the branch, it was just the wrong branch, I needed to be one branch down. 

I decided to pick it all out, every last red stitch. There isn't enough fabric to move it up, so out it came. 

And this is what it looked like on Thursday night before I went to bed. I did work on it Friday but I forgot to take a picture that night to mark my first week.

Happy Stitching!

Stocking #1 Week ???

I need to go to my calendar to determine how many weeks I have been working on this stocking. I didn't work on it at all last week. 

Those little individual snowflakes were a pain. I almost didn't do them, I wasn't sure it would add anything to the design, 

but I am glad I did. 

On April 19th I started making the Confetti Stitch for the individual snowflakes. This is the website where I learned how to do the Confetti Stich. Here are the pictures from that night. 

The very top of the stocking.

Close up of the middle.

Starting the toe section. I showed these pictures to my niece and she really likes them. 

I took a break to make more masks and work on my Yo-Yo Quilt and came back to do more. These little stitches are tine consuming and use so much thread. I don't travel on the back. 

This is how the look on the back.

So last night, 28th of April I made the last one!!!!

The middle section, you can enlarge to see better,

The Toe section.

The whole Stocking, you can see the individual snowflakes if you enlarge the picture.

The only things left to do are to sew on buttons on the snowmen and stars on top of the trees but I have to buy them. I also have two little white birds to do. but I can't see them to make them.

Where the needle is sticking up I have stitched half of the bird but I can't see my stitches to know where to go next. Frustrating. I will try one more time with a light brown and if that doesn't work I will have to do something else. 

It is 14 weeks since I started but I haven't worked on it every week. 

I am so glad to be at this point. 

Stocking #1 Week #11

It has been 11 weeks since I started the first Christmas stock for my great-niece and her husband. I haven't worked on it for 2 weeks. And it has been 3 weeks since my last post. 

I did make progress and I also have done a few other things like dealing with teenagers who have been out of school for 4 weeks,

 1 week of spring break, and 3 weeks in quarantine.  New online classes for them. Interesting times. Plus I have been making masks for family and friends,  

So, the last time I posted the stocking looked almost complete. But there were a few details that needed to be finished. 

The first detail to finish was this little tree. It took me three tries to get those branches to go in the right direction. Then I had to make all those needles. I thought I was done and realized I forgot the two bottom branches. 

You may have noticed I am using my small embroidery hoop. I was tired of fighting with the big frame and it wasn't stretching the fabric enough to see the holes. Especially with all that fine work. 

The second detail work I worked on were these six fir stitches in the middle of this vine-like row. They also took several attempts to get them right also. They are good now! 

So now let me show you the whole thing now.

Doesn't it look great? But it isn't finished. There is supposed to be a bird sitting on the cat's tail and the snowman on the right side. Those birds are over one thread instead of two. I have made two of them and I am not happy with them. Let me show you.

I hit a snag when I start doing the second leg of the cross-stitch. It starts to look messy and I can't find my holes. I will try again and if it doesn't work for me, they aren't happening!

They don't look as bad here as I think they do in person. 

But I am still not done, I have a bunch of confetti stitches to make. Those are one stitch here and there to look like snow. I had to look up how to make them. Learning new things all the time. 

I will let you know how well that goes!

It might be hard for you to see, but you can click on the picture and enlarge it. The snow starts up in the words and goes 

to the toe of the stocking. 

Happy Stitching!

Stocking #1 Week 7

I made a lot of progress this week. I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, that is my needle poking up in that top row of stitches, right where I left off. 

In case you can't read the script, it says;

I'll be home for

Christmas

If only in my

Dreams  a bird and MB 

my initials.

I would still like to find a good spot to put the year. This designer didn't leave space for the year. To me, I like looking at the year a stocking was made. It adds to my memory of other things that were going on at the time. 

This is the pattern, so I only have to add Nick's name, the top row of designs, some snowflakes, and branches. Then the top will be done. I still have some embellishments and a snowbank to finish on the bottom. 

Stocking 1 Week 5 & 6

Time sure flies by fast when you are having fun and are busy. Saturday the 29th I had my scrapbooking group here at my home. So I didn' get to post last weekend. 

The toe of the stocking is almost finished. I still need to put branches on the little tree on the toe part and add embellishments. I am saving the embellishments for the very end. 

Here is a picture of what is finished now. 

Here is a close-up.

I also did the snow around the house and big trees but I only went one direction. I am ready to move on to the other part of the stocking for a while. 

My favorite part, I rolled the stocking up to work on the upper part. I only have one page on the chart to complete. This will be the part with the words on it. 

Happy Stitching!