textile dreams – fibery wake up

SAL Update – Prism Owls #21

It’s time for owls again! Today will be an update in several steps, since I finally managed to get the first owl finished and moved the frame afterwards. So, here’s where I was six weeks ago:

The tail feathers were still missing, together with a few stitches here or there on the feet and branch, so I filled those in first:

That makes the first owl officially finished! I had already decided that I was going to do the owl to the right of this one next, so I needed to move the frame to get enough empty fabric next. Here’s the reference for where I started on this section:

Next step? Rather a lot of black background, which is a nice change from all the confetti, so I’m quite enjoying it.

You can see the outline of the next section appear. The bump on top of the small branch is some foliage, which will lead directly into the next owl, which looks quite different from the first one!

Here are the other members of the SAL who are posting today. Make sure to check out their work, it’s amazing: Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Laura, Cathie, Linda and Helen.

SAL Update – Bee #3

This time I’m showing progress on my colourful bee again, more background!

Here’s last time:

I finished the flowers and started to add the background above:

I love the orange and red colour combination of the background. Official numbers: 11.89% done, so not as much as the last update, but that mostly means I got obsessed with the owls again, which is a good thing.

Here are the other members of the SAL who are posting today. Make sure to check out their work, it’s amazing: Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Laura, Cathie, Linda and Helen.

SAL Update – Prism Owls #20

Today’s the scheduled update about my owl, which hasn’t grown a lot – but what has grown is the branch he’s sitting on. I’m really starting to like the spirally patterns on the branch, although, as always with this pattern, it consists completely of confetti stitches in too many colours – but the effect is worth it:

Hoping to finish the branch and possibly the tail feathers till the next update, and then I’ve decided to move on to the next owl to the right, which is incidentally sitting on that same branch.

Here’s the comparison with last time:

Here are the other members of the SAL who are posting today. Make sure to check out their work, it’s amazing: Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Laura, Cathie, Linda and Helen.

SAL Update – Bee #2

The bee (or rather the background around the bee) continues to grow! I’ve worked on the pink flowers on the upper left side of the image, and am planning to work my way up to the upper left corner from here. Still enjoying all the colours, although I definitely prefer the oranges and reds to the pinks of the flowers.

Here’s last time’s progress:

And this is today’s progress:

Patternkeeper tells me I’m sitting at 9.37% done right now, which sounds a lot and a little at the same time. Next time we’ll look at the owls again!

Here are the other members of the SAL who are posting today. Make sure to check out their work, it’s amazing: Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Laura, Cathie, Linda and Helen.

SAL Update – Prism Owls #19

As promised, today there’s an update on my owl. Turns out that starting a new project is just what I needed to also continue making progress on this one. I have now learnt how much I prefer working on 25-count fabric, it’s just so much more solid and less fiddly than the 28-count I’m using for Bee! So, here’s our owl today:

She’s got feet now, and you can see the negative space where the tail feathers and the branch she’s sitting on will go. That’s rather more progress than I expected to make, so yay! Here’s the comparison to last time:

The compare doesn’t work perfectly here because I had to extend the frame a bit to show the bits at the bottom, but I still think it gives a good impression on what’s happened since last time.

Here are the other members of the SAL who are posting today. Make sure to check out their work, it’s amazing: Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Laura, Cathie, Linda and Helen.

SAL Update – Bee #1

As promised, today’s the first progress report on my new project. It’s another one from the fine folks at Gecko Rouge, and it’s called “Bee” by Lorna Laine. Here’s my progress for the first three weeks:

I love the colours of this so much! There are several new things I’m trying out with this:

1. The fabric is 28 threads per inch instead of 25. Small difference, and I can stitch it just fine, but I feel that especially in confetti-heavy areas there’s just not enough space for all the stitches. Will be fine for this, which turns out not to be very confetti-heavy, but I’ll stick with 25-count in the future.
2. Gecko Rouge is switching its Magic Guide fabric to another brand. This one has one coloured thread every 10 threads, the previous one had two every 20. I appreciate things being marked every ten threads, but the main difference is one vs. two coloured threads – with two the lines on the pattern are exactly between the two lines, no thinking required. With one I had to decide and remember which row/column lies exactly on the coloured thread, which takes slightly more thinking when counting.
3. I’m trying out Pattern Keeper, an app where you can import PDFs of Cross-stitch patterns and mark your stitches on a tablet instead of on a paper copy. This one’s a total game changer, making things much more portable and easier not to miss single stitches hiding in the crowd. Will use this going forward. Currently only available for Android, but if you have an Android tablet, it’s worthwile checking it out.

Pattern Keeper also counts exactly how many stitches you have done and how much there’s still to do, which is fun. The Bee also is a much smaller pattern than my Owls, so you can really see progress. But as promised, I’ll switch back to the owls for the next update, so they will get finished at some point!

Here are the other members of the SAL who are posting today. Make sure to check out their work, it’s amazing: Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Laura, Cathie, Linda and Helen.

SAL Update – Prism Owls #18

I managed to finish the body of my owl! Here she is:

Here’s the comparison to last time, using the handy compare feature again:

Since getting there, I couldn’t face starting the next section, which is his feet and a huge chunk of the branch he’s sitting on, which are mostly similar colors so makes sense to tackle together. Instead I started a new project, for various reasons. I’ll explain more and show you a first project pic three weeks from now. It’s a fun one! For the moment, I’m aiming to switch between them at every SAL weekend, so you’ll get to see progress on both in alternative posts. In the long run, the new one will probably become my travel project, once travel is a thing again.

Here are the other members of the SAL who are posting today. Make sure to check out their work, it’s amazing: Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Laura, Cathie, Linda and Helen.

SAL Update – Prism Owls #17

It seems like I continue to work on this in bursts. I think one of the reasons is that when set up, my cross stitch needs the part of my craft table that other projects need as well, so I’m not inclined to swap while in the middle of a project. The last weeks I was occupied with a still secret quilting project, which I finished up yesterday. So in order to not have a no-show again, I did add a few stitches before taking a new picture. So, let’s do a game of “Spot the difference”!

Last time vs. this time:

So, let’s see what happens for next time – that probably depends on how long it takes me to get stuck into the next creative project that needs space.

Here are the other members of the SAL who are posting today. Make sure to check out their work, it’s amazing: Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda and Helen.

SAL Update – Prism Owls #16

I started this project about a year ago now, and it’s going slowly but surely. I got to play with lots of colours this time! Here’s last time:

And today it’s looking like this:

I’m currently working my way through the fringe of feathers under the eyes, with the rest of the body to follow. Below that, his feet and the branch he’s sitting on.

Here are the other members of the SAL who are posting today. Make sure to check out their work, it’s amazing: Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda and Helen.