Oakhaven Yahoo Group 2011 SAL

I joined the Oakhaven Yahoo Group this year and participated on two of their SALs. These are adorable calendars that were so much fun to stitch! We received the chart on a monthly basis and each of us worked on all different sorts of fabric count, colors and threads!

The Owl SAL will be framed and given to my husband's grandmother as a gift. It's worked on Charles Craft 14ct Cameo Rose Aida, 3 x 1 full crosses with Anchor floss.

The Bird SAL I've left with my very talented mother, who's fantastic on a sewing machine, to be turned into a cushion. It's worked on 11 ct White Aida, 3 x 1 full crosses with Anchor floss.

Garden of Miracles - FINISHED

I loved doing this project, and once I get a few WIPs completed I plan to start on the second design on this leaflet. It did take me a while to complete this one as I mostly stitched this on weekends, but I enjoyed it so very much I was looking forward to each weekend, to get away from Van Gogh's endless confetti.

Garden of Miracles

I've been loving working with the Jobelan, it's very very soft. Here's my progress.

August 28th, 2011

September 26th, 2011

November 7th, 2011

Sakura Geisha

With Misaki looking so good I couldn't wait to start on Sakura, as I believe they'll look fabulous with black mat and frame on the wall. I'm using the same idea I used on Misaki, going with a bigger fabric, less back stitching, to make it have a more tapestry feel and again will be adding 30 stitches to the width of her so they're both the same size.

My start includes my curious kitty's paws. =p

HAED Starry Starry Night - Page One

I've finally finished the first page of my first HAED. I confess it's been quite a challenge and I didn't think I'd make it. I now have 13 more pages of pure confetti hell! I feel very accomplished for having gotten this far, and it sure looks great!

HAED Starry Starry Night

I've been working on this every other week, and very slowly (VERY slowly) it's been taking shape. Here's my current progress.

Garden of Miracles

I got this leaflet by Sandi Gore Evans on a sale and thought it was so cute it was the perfect chance to re-learn how to work on evenweave. So I purchased some 28ct Jobelan and made a start on the first of  two lovely designs.

August 27th, 2011

HAED Starry Starry Night

This year I joined the forum "Crossstitchforum.com" and among getting a lot of encouragement to stashing up, working on rotation, meeting a lot of wonderful stitchers and drooling over other people's WIPs, I learned about the site Heaven and Earth Designs, which takes cross stitching to a whole new level.

Like many before and many after me, I've fallen for the idea of these massive charts, and started one myself. I picked Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night, knowing it will most likely take me years to finish.

I made a start on it and as of today, here's what I have done. I'm stitching it on 25ct Antique White Lugana, 2 x1 tent stitches, with DMC floss.

Taste of Mediterranean

When my mom was visiting me we went to Michael's together and she ended up giving me this Dimensions Kit as gift. I thought it was so lovely I ended up working on it immediately and got it done in no time (for my standards). I started this right after I finished the Geisha.

May 8th, 2011

May 11th, 2011

May 26th, 2011

May 29th, 2011

And the process of adding background and back stitch

June 26th, 2011

July 5th, 2011

I can't wait to get this one framed!

Misaki Geisha

This is the first of two Maia charts I inherited from a friend of my mom's, they were originally part of a kit but the materials had already been used. I had planned on doing them as a tapestry, using wool and going really big with it, but simplifying the pattern, but I scraped that idea. 

What I decided to do instead, was making it bigger and simpler while staying with the Anchor colors listed in the chart. So I went with white Aida 11 ct, and stitched it without the 1/4 stitches, and ignored most of the back stitching. I also added 30 stitches to the width of the project, to fit the frame size I wanted. 

Misaki is the first of the two Geishas, and I worked on her on and off from February 2010 to . Here's her progress over time.

April 16th, 2010

April 21st, 2010

July 20th, 2010

May 6th, 2011