I’m finally caught up!
Wouldn’t you love a camel ride past a pyramid? I’m sure in reality it’s hot and smelly, but in my mind it seems like the greatest adventure ever!
Now to get caught up on some geek-a-long knitting. If only I can pull myself away from Pokémon Go long enough…
The March installment of the Pumpkin Passport has us riding past a tulip field in the Netherlands. And what a wonderful view it is!
It’s definitely on my bucket list to see the tulip fields someday, but for now, the cross stitched version will have to do.
I’ll admit that I finished this before the month of March was over, however it took a few weeks to get posted since my life is currently being sucked away by Stardew Valley. I will not admit to just how many hours I have already put into a game that was only released six weeks ago, but it’s obvious that blog posts have fallen to the wayside because of it. I have lots of projects to post – I’ve made good progress on squares for the Lattes and Llamas Geek-a-Long, and even finished off a crocheted baby blanket for a co-worker. So hopefully I can pull myself away from my virtual farm for long enough to get those up here sometime soon. No promises though… there are crops to plant, animals to feed, villagers to woo, and a mine that needs exploring…
I am clearly a sucker for craft-a-longs. How else can I explain talking myself into yet another year-long Frosted Pumpkin stitch-a-long? Like the WIP pile wasn’t already big enough! But this year’s stitch is travel themed, and like everything Frosted Pumpkin, just too darn cute to resist.
Here’s a shot of the full piece after I finished stitching the January & February installments. I really love that the layout is horizontal and that it’s clearly going to be a full scene rather than individual framed motifs like the last two stitch-a-longs.
Here’s a close up of the January and February stitch:
An interesting side note is that I have actually been to both London and Paris. These are likely to be the only cities in the Pumpkin Passport that I’ve actually visited!
Yay! I finished the Frosted Pumpkin Christmas Town stitch-a-long in plenty of time for Christmas!
Sadly, I have no idea what I’m going to do with it now. It’s roughly 11″ by 6″, so a standard frame isn’t going to work, and I don’t really want to pay for custom framing. I think it would look pretty cute stretched over a canvas, so I may see whether I can track down some appropriately sized stretcher bars or fake having woodworking skills well enough to make my own.1
Or, I may bribe someone with a sewing machine and some sewing expertise2 to see whether it can be made into a wall hanging.3
Regardless of how it ends up finished, I’m really pleased with the stitching – it couldn’t be cuter. And the photo does not do justice to just how beautiful the Picture this Plus hand dyed crystal fabric actually is.
1I actually had to Google ‘woodworking’ to see whether or not it contained a dash. That demonstrates the extent of my woodworking skills.
2I have neither of these things.
3I’m looking at you Mom (hint, hint).
I have been so caught up in posting about Creativ Festival projects that I have quite a back log now of other projects that need some blog love!
First up is the Frosted Pumpkin Story Time Sampler, which, apparently, I haven’t given an update on since August. So here are the characters from September, October, and November, which happen to be based on three of my very favourite books: Black Beauty, Anne of Green Gables, and Little Women.
I think my favourite detail is Jo’s crooked smirk.
It’s hard to believe there is only one month left to go in this stitch-a-long. And harder still to believe that I’ve actually made it all the way through!
Well, this is a little embarrassing. I think I finished stitching the August installment of the Frosted Pumpkin Story Time Sampler in the first week of August, but it has taken until now to make it to the blog. Better late than never?
August’s scene features the Phantom and Christine from The Phantom of the Opera.
The Phantom of the Opera was the first large-scale, musical production I ever saw. I actually saw it twice in Toronto when I was a kid (I believe both in the same year – once with my family and once as a school trip), so it can be credited with helping inspire my love of musical theatre. Sadly, since I’ve now seen many, many more shows, it actually ranks among my least favourite overall. I don’t know why, but the music and the story just do not speak to me.
I also remember reading an adaptation of the novel while I was in elementary school but really don’t remember much about it. I’m guessing it was a version aimed at children and likely had very little in common with the original text. Since I have (so far) read all of the stories in this sampler, and since English translations of the original novel are readily available online, I’m trying to convince myself to read the original. But, I’ve clearly been trying for almost two months and it hasn’t happened yet, so I may decide that the children’s adaptation counts and I’m off the hook! This one is obviously in my “stitching it is way more fun than reading it” pile!
I finished the first instalment of the Frosted Pumpkin Christmas mystery stitch.
It really is adorable (Frosted Pumpkin’s speciality) and I love how the overdyed threads turned out (the red used for the door and Santa, and the green used on Santa’s bag). I don’t have a lot of experience using overdyeds so it was a bit of a challenge to remember to stitch one stitch at a time, and to not use the loop method to start my threads, but in the end it was worth it.
The only thing I don’t like about this stitching so far is the fabric colour. I would have picked a darker colour so the white of the snow would pop a little more.
The next part of the pattern (there are four parts in total) arrives on August 26th. I can’t wait!
I really didn’t need a new cross stitch project since I already have two on the go, but the Frosted Pumpkin A Very Merry Christmas Town mystery stitch-a-long is simply too adorable to resist. I ordered the aida kit and it arrived in the mail late last week.
The kit came with 1/8 yard of 14-count hand dyed aida (there’s a 28-count linen version available as well), ten colours of DMC floss, two colours of The Gentle Art floss, metallic gold Kreinik braid, and a six-pack of size 26 tapestry needles.
I’m super excited to try the floss from A Gentle Art as it isn’t a brand I’ve used before. The BOHIN needles are new to me as well. Most of mine are John James or DMC since that’s what seems to be available at the stores I shop in. I am, however, already giving the metallic braid the evil eye. I can’t stand working with the DMC metallics, so we’ll see how the Kreinik compares.
The hand dyed crystal aida from Picture this Plus in Arctic is some of the prettiest fabric I’ve seen. The muted shades of blue and the opalescent thread woven through the fabric really do evoke thoughts of a beautiful winter day.
I jumped right into stitching but don’t have much to show yet. The second instalment of the pattern arrives on Aug. 26, so I better stop typing and start stitching!
Next up in my Sprite Stitch stitch-a-long is Yoshi’s Island. This one is yet another blackberrybear creation. She and I clearly have the same taste in games since I’ll be stitching a few more of her creations before my stitch-a-long project is over!
The original pattern (which you can find over on Sprite Stitch) used pastel colours, but I changed them to match the image on the front of the Yoshi’s Island DS game, since it’s the only one I’ve played. To be honest, I only played a bit of this game. I didn’t dislike it, I just get easily distracted by new games so games often don’t hold my attention for very long unless they are truly exceptional. I simply thought that baby Mario was too cute not to stitch and the character shot makes for a nice contrast to the many squares that use a more traditional, multiple-motif, sampler style.
Next up is a seriously fantastic Minesweeper square, so be on the lookout.
July’s instalment of the Frosted Pumpkin story time stitch-a-long is from the ballad The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I’ll sheepishly admit that I’d never read it. I’m a huge fan of the painting by John William Waterhouse, on which this cross stitch is clearly based, and even got to see the painting at the Tate Britain in London many years ago. But poetry just isn’t my thing. That being said, since it’s the first story in this stitch-a-long that I hadn’t read, I sat down and read it. Three times. Poetry still isn’t my thing.
But cross stitch sure is! Isn’t she adorable?
Craftscapades 