Cross Stitch crazy!

I'm totally loving my cross stitching at the moment. It's so involving and great for keeping negative thoughts at bay. There's also something incredibly rewarding about seeing a picture build up from tiny stitches and knowing that you have to work one stitch at a time, even on a huge project.

I *should* be spending all my stitching time on the birth sampler for my Sister in Law, but it's just not holding my attention. So, I'm stitching it in rotation with another project, Faces of Faery 185 by Jasmine Beckett Griffith. Here's a pic of my progress on the sampler first of all:-

Before...

 

After...

Excuse the creases! I'm jumping about all over the pattern to keep it as interesting as possible because it's turning out to be a really boring pattern sadly. Still, hopefully my SIL will appreciate it once it's finished.

Now for the Faery progress. I'm working on 18 count Aida, which is the smallest I've ever worked but I love how it looks. The stitches are so compact and smooth. This is my first pattern from Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED) and it certainly won't be my last. I love how detailed the shading is and there's no backstitch which is nice!

Here's my first couple of progress pictures...

I really wish I'd bought all the threads I needed in one go as I'm now stuck with big gaps I can't fill in yet. I've now ordered the rest of the threads needed for the first page so hopefully they'll arrive soon. The full pic can be seen here.

I started the Kawaii Christmas Countdown too, but soon realised I had no chance of completing it in time for December so I've put that on hold and will do a little bit each month next year once the birth sampler is out of the way. This is how far I got...

Finally, an update on my pottery. Here's the finished Sea Urchin tealight holder. The glaze is a raku glaze, but just biscuit fired to retain the turquoise colour. I'm very happy with this :D

How many stitches???

Yesterday I worked out that my Panda Collage cross stitch consists of around 51,000 stitches. Eek!!! I've done around 5,000 already though so nearly 10% of the way through. I do wonder how long it will take me to complete.

I plan to start another project soon, Faces of Faery 185 from Heaven and Earth Designs. I'm just waiting for the fabric and starting threads to arrive. This is what it will look like when it's finished...

I'm still working on the birth sampler, and that should be complete by Christmas. I'm also hoping to start on the Kawaii Winter Wonderland Countdown from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. Again, I'm waiting on fabric and threads arriving, but I may have to put the Faery and Panda Collage on hold so that I can complete the countdown before the start of December. It would be nice if my Daughter can countdown to Christmas with it this year rather than next!

So, onto an update of the Panda Collage.... I've spent some time in hospital recently and have had a hard time of things so my mind hasn't been so much on stitching. HoweveI'm just about to start on the bird underneath the giraffe, and I've already made a few stitches on the koala too.

Sticking my neck out.

This week my Giraffe has finally grown a neck! There are some more leaves growing around him and a bit of tree has sprung up behind him too.

I've started working on the hoop as it was getting tricky to keep the fabric taut as I worked further into the design. I've made some progress on the birth sampler too but haven't got a picture of that.

I was also busy in my pottery class this week. I started, and pretty much finished, a coil pot. I just have to scrape the excess clay out of the inside and then glaze it.

Making good progress.

As I promised myself last week, I spent most of my stitching time this week on the birth sampler, which of course I then forgot to photograph - d'oh! However, I also made some good progress on the Panda Collage. There's now a happy Giraffe smiling at me from the Aida...

...although DH insists it looks like he's sporting a Richard Branson-esque beard :D

Another successful creative exploit came to semi-fruition this week. I started a pottery evening class 3 weeks ago and my first project was a pinch pot. When the tutor said we'd be making pinch pots my heart sank. In my experience, pinch pots usually look something like this...

Now, no offense to the creator of the pots pictured, but that's just really not my cup of tea I'm afraid. However, I was very pleasantly surprised when the tutor showed us a technique to join two pinch pots and make them into a lovely smooth clay sphere, ready for us to decorate as we wished.

I chose to turn mine into a Sea Urchin inspired tealight holder, using various objects I found around the house to make the decoration. I used part of a broken zip, the barrel of a ball point pen and even a wine pouring device to make this little beauty.

Now it just needs to be fired before I probably go and ruin it by glazing it! I'm thinking I'll make the raised circles white and the rest a turquoise/teal colour, if that's even possible. Not sure yet how I'll do that. Probably by using a white glaze all over, firing it, then masking the circles and re-dipping in the teal glaze. I'm sure the tutor will be able to let me know the best way.